Total Drama Cruise
by play for keeps
Summary: Takes place after TDWT-the TD cast are stuck on a cruise as they get ready for season 5. Follow Gwen, Duncan, Courtney, and Trent on the boat as they finally deal with all the unfinished business from TDWT, filled with tons of drama and hurt! And what's more, Justin gets caught into the mix and adds fuel to the fire by liking WHO? Some parts from TDROTI are included!
1. Chapter 1

******A/N **Hey everyone! I don't know if there's a line break on here or not, but I just wanna say hi! This is my first time writing a fan fic, and I've recently become obsessed with Total Drama again this summer after forgetting about it for 3 years hehe. This was originally a longer chapter, but I cut it down into two parts, so the premise of the story really comes in Chapter 2. Please review if you like!

**Courtney's P.O.V.**

I'm sitting comfortably in my chair on the deck of the boat, taking a break from reading Crime and Punishment, the book resting on my lap. I look at my surroundings, noticing the calm sea and breathing in the salt air while the rest of the cast entertain themselves. I could see we were headed back to the very place I so despise-Camp Wawanakwa. Were we seriously going back to that horrible excuse for a summer camp? It figures, since Chris is so cheap—couldn't he afford a different location for us to compete? World Tour was exciting, I have to admit, since we traveled to almost every country in the world. I became more culturally sensitive because of it, and it's something I can add to my college applications when Harvard, Yale, and Princeton accept me. After our 2 month break from World Tour, Chris told us to go back to Playa Des Losers immediately and a boat would take us to the location of season 4 right away. If Chris thinks he can take us to this deserted, waste dump of a camp then he'll be hearing from my lawyers!

My eyes survey the rest of the cast. Everyone from Total Drama was on this boat, mostly doing everything but looking at the run down island. There's Bridgette and Geoff glued to the lips as usual. Seriously, they need to breathe at _some point—_the question was when. And of course Sadie and Katie are on deck as well, squealing like guinea pigs and oogling at Justin who flashed them his 'winning smile.' Apparently those two dimwits are the only girls phased by Justin, as I seem to recall he lost his sex appeal in Total Drama Action. Lindsay and Beth had dropped him like a fly. What do people even see in that egocentric maniac? Too bad the only good thing about him is that he's not hard on the eyes.

I turn my head to the left to see Beth, Lindsay, and Tyler. Beth is making more friendship bracelets again, and Lindsay is giggling as Tyler does a cartwheel—_attempts_—to do a cartwheel. With his legs halfway in the air, his hands give away and he falls face first—ouch! I cringe, shaking my head. On the far deck, Heather is snuggling up to a robot Alejandro, whispering something probably evil and twisted in his ear. My heart involuntarily sinks as I think about how Alejandro got in that suit. I should hold a grudge against him, and I'm great at holding grudges. Alejandro's the one who shamelessly flirted with me, only to kick me off in World Tour. I was like putty in his hands, but he didn't deserve to get burned to death. Ha, who am I kidding, that player deserves every last third-degree burn to the core!

Pushing my thoughts away from Alejandro, I spot Harold, Leshawna, Owen, Noah, Izzy, and DJ playing some card game. Harold is awfully close to Leshawna who is struggling to maintain an appropriate distance. Izzy has abandoned the game completely and seems to be having a conversation with herself and 'Explosivo.' Owen is devouring sausage like a whale, Noah is also reading a book, and poor DJ is actually trying to play the game but no one is obviously paying attention.

Next to them, Eva is lifting weights, her face in dead concentration. I spy Cody and Sierra together, Sierra smothering him in hugs and Cody looking for someone to help him. He's so pathetic, if he doesn't like her he should say something! I hear the gentle strumming of a guitar and know it can only be from Trent. I look at him with sympathetic eyes—he must be hurting, the music that floats in the air is so mellow, so yearning, so—

Any feelings of sympathy cease and are replaced with intense hatred as I follow Trent's eyes. I smack myself in the forehead, mentally kicking myself. It wouldn't take a mind reader to know who he was looking at—or _what_, they don't even deserved to be regarded as human beings after what they did to me!

The backstabbing goth who I _thought_ was my friend and…and…that two-timing, heartless, inconsiderate, relentless, arrogant, womanizer, pathetic excuse for a man—oh not even a man—a NEANDERTHAL—and the most dense and simplest one at that—and not to mention and ignoramus—they both are…together they are…

Sucking Face.

My book slides out of my hands and makes a 'thump' on the floor; my palms are sweaty, and my vision blurs. My hands aren't responding to pick up my book as I sit in place on the chair, the goth girl and the bastard becoming less focused. Suddenly, my brain functions again and I whip away my eyes from my unbearable sight and fix them on my book. Something similar to nausea overpowers me, making me tremble, my mouth turning pasty and my heart accelerating 100 miles per hour.

Vision still blury, I manage to pick up my book and dig my claws into it, digging for dear life. I can't show everyone I'm weak—I just have to wait till I get off this stupid boat. I—

"Hey!" a voice interrupts my thoughts. Oh, it's just Beth. "Why are we passing Camp Wawanakwa? Aren't we competing there?"

Sure enough, Beth was right. We were all passing the dingy island. Maybe Chris wasn't so cheap after all—maybe we were going to a more conducive environment for us to win a million dollars—but then again, it's Chris. Everyone started mumbling as our ship continued sailing by.

Owen stops inhaling his sausage for a couple of seconds. "Ooh, maybe we're going somewhere with lots of food! Lots and lots of food…" Ew he's drooling.

Noah scoffs. "Yeah right, because _all _the sausages you have aren't enough," he says lazily.

"But they aren't!" Owen insists. He looks at the camp that's sailing by. "I smell…bacon…" He jumps off the boat and starts swimming to camp. "Don't worry bacon, I'm coming for ya!" Looks like we won't be seeing him anytime soon.

Sierra's voice screeches in my ears. Seriously, she has to _go_. "I don't care where we're going as long as my Cody-kins is here with me," she says, sucking the life out of Cody more. "Right, Cody?"

"Uh, whatever you say, Sierra." Cody glances around for someone to help him, but everyone avoids his gaze.

Heather's haughty voice comes next and I frown. "I don't care where we're going, as long as I deserve my million dollars! If that freak didn't go all Lord of the Rings with the suitcase and drop it in the boiling lava, I wouldn't be here right now!"

A voice from the loudspeaker on the boat jolts everyone up—it's a female voice. "Attention Total Drama rejects!" I would recognize that voice anywhere—lacks authority, spoiled, stuck up—

"BLAINELEY?!" Everyone shouts. The voice on the loudspeaker is clearly annoyed. "Do you people know _anything_ about reality TV?_ I_ do the introductions here! Anyway, everyone is to come to the ballroom now, which is right through those double doors, for an important announcement."

Everyone groans. The voice I grew to abhor so much, the douchebag's, speaks up. I don't even have to look at him to envision his idiotic smirk plastered on his face. "And what if we don't? Last time I checked, you don't host the show."

"I'm sure it would make a great news story if a couple of teens from the Total Drama franchise that everyone loves and adores were caught in a freak drowning accident on their way back home…now get down here!"

Apparently everyone is scared of this empty threat as they run though the double doors that leads into the unknown of the boat. As if there's any reason to be afraid! My lawyers would promptly get me out of any unethical and illogical situation that would dare threaten me from this stupid show!

Sighing, I grab my book and head to the double doors. What could Chris be pulling up his sleeve this time?


	2. Chapter 2

**Gwen's P.O.V.**

After going through those doors, I have to say that I was shocked when I saw an elegant lobby on the other side. No one had actually been inside the boat since we came on—after our small break from World Tour, Chris told us we were by contract to compete in season 4. The way he put it made it seem like we would get to wherever we were going would be really quick. And plus, the doors we just went through were locked before…me and Duncan had tried to go in there for, um…alone time…but that didn't work. Every entrance was locked.

On the outside this boat looked like crap; typical, but I never would've thought that it was actually…nice.

A huge, sparkly, golden chandelier looms over us. There's a marble bar, fish décor on blue walls, plush green carpet, arcade games on the right of us, and a breakfast bar, all in the lobby we just entered. Preppy much? Minus the arcade, though.

"Wow, Chris was sure holding out on us!" Leshawna says in awe. "Why'd that fool keep us locked out?"

"And where's the bathroom?" I ask.

Izzy's crazy voice comes from far away. "Hehe, it's over here guys! You can't miss it!"

Duncan's left hand laces with mine and I can feel the heat rush to my face. He's held my hands so many times, but every time I get super tingly and giggle like an airhead blonde—which is what I'm doing now. Crap!

He looks at me and smiles—it's actually a genuine smile, coming from him. I look into his turquoise eyes and smile back, my face still hot.

"Hey, I can think of a million other things we could be doing instead," he says seductively, while everyone follows Izzy's voice up ahead.

Oh yeah. I know for sure my face is a tomato now. Can he feel how sweaty my hands are? He's only talking about making out right? _Right?_

"Um—" I manage to get out, and stop my sentence short when I see Courtney, who's trailing behind everyone else, shooting me icy glares of death. Yep, I'd be dead right now.

"I—I think we should go see what's going on with Blaineley and everyone," I say quickly, avoiding Courtney's silent wrath and focus back on Duncan, whose face instantly calms me down. "Ya know, it can't be that bad. And I'm kinda curious." I turn my eyes back to Courtney only for her to be gone—weird. I thought she would come marching up to us and go ballistic.

Duncan huffs and rolls his eyes. "You can't be serious? You were practically dying to get away earlier. C'mon." He tugs my hand to come along with him to the arcade room. The _dark_ arcade room.

"Duncan," I say, stopping him in his tracks. He looks at me impatiently. "I promise you all the alone time you want, but let's just see what this thing is, ok?" What is stopping me from being with Duncan? And Courtney is definitely not the reason. I can finally hold Duncan's hand and kiss him all I want without any unwanted guilt! I mean we made out on the boat a couple of minutes ago! What is wrong with me?

Duncan just shrugs and gives me a mischievous grin. "Ok, your call. Just remember what you promised, babe."

I laugh and nudge his shoulder. "We'll see about that, Mr. Forgetful." He playfully slaps my butt—the touch of where his hand was lingers and fills me with electricity that zig-zags throughout my body.

"Hey, I give out the nicknames here," he says, tickling me on my arms. Weird spot, I know, but I double over laughing. Man he knows how to get my mood up. That's why I love being around him. But he has been forgetful lately, and I wonder if it has anything to do with Courtney. Sure, me and him didn't get together under the best circumstances, and I am sorry Courtney is hurt, but…things just happen for the better sometimes. That's what I keep saying, anyway.

"Ha, don't sound like Blaineley," I joke, and mimic what he said in her voice.

Duncan scoops me up and throws me over his shoulder and I lightly pound my fists on his back. "Put me down!" I squeal, laughing.

"Looks like you're gonna have to deal with me for a while, sweetheart," he says as we make our way to join the others.

**Trent's P.O.V.**

The room's pretty spacey, as you would expect from a ballroom—a large wooden floor, a stage with a piano in the back, huge mirrors that cover the walls, another fancy chandelier, and tables with decorative, white tablecloth. I think Chris makes himself appear to be cheap—just what kind of budget does he have?

We all fill in the room and see Blaineley in her redundant red dress in the center, applying make-up. She's already pretty enough, she'll look like a clown if she keeps it up. She stops putting on her foundation and gives us a forced grin.

"Hi everyone, as you may remember me, I hosted the Puppy Bachelorette, won a Gemmi Award for best host, and—"

"Your real name isn't Blaineley, it's Mildred!" shouts Geoff, clearly annoyed.

"_Stop_ doing that!" wails Blaineley and stomps her foot. Harold speaks up.

"Why are you holding a microphone?" Huh, she was. Didn't notice that.

She gives a forced smile. "We're being filmed _right now_," she says through gritted teeth. I turn my head and see a cameraman in the corner. Didn't notice him either. Maybe I need glasses?

I hear Eva talk next. "What happened to your bandages?"

"Oh, ho, ho, Eva, plastic surgery does wonders," Blaineley says, flipping her hair. "Too bad the same can't be said about Alejandro over there."

Yeesh, I feel bad for the guy. No one deserves to be tortured like that. Heather protectively wraps her arms around Alejandro's robot form and narrows her eyes at everyone.

"Anyway—" Blaineley starts, but is interrupted by Gwen and Duncan who just now come in. They're giggling as Duncan puts Gwen on the floor from his shoulders. My heart skips a beat. It's good to see Gwen happy. Even though it's not with me, I have to learn to deal with it. Her face seems to have that glow that I've memorized so well when we were together. I wish I could make her laugh like that again.

I give her a small wave and she shyly waves back as she approaches the rest of the group. God she looks beautiful as ever. I can't even imagine what Courtney looks like now.

"_Anyway_, the important announcement," Blaineley says hotly. "Chris decided—"

Owen randomly busts through the ballroom doors with a handful of bacon. "WE'RE NOT GONNA BE ON SEASON 4!"

Everyone gasps. Lindsay looks like she's going to cry. "But why? Chip _lied_ to us?"

"Chris told me and gave me bacon to keep my mouth shut before he kicked me off the island...oops."

Blaineley's face turns scarlet. "If you punks keep stealing my thunder, I swear—"

"Then why are we even HERE?" yells Heather.

Blaineley huffs. "Again, Chris decided you guys were getting a tad worn out, old, second rate. So he got 13 new losers instead. You'll all be in Season 5…well, some of you."

"Two-faced, B-list host say what now?" Leshawna seems riled up.

"To make it fair, and in Chris' case, as fair as possible, we need 13 of you to be on the next season with the new cast. Apparently there was a lot of heat of how people were picked for World Tour, and it's a disadvantage to have more old with the new."

Courtney practically spits her next words. "And how do you pick whose eligible?"

"Simple—everyone had to find a Guilded Blaineley. They're hidden around the boat. Everyone has a different set of 10 clues to find them. Your first clue will lead to the location of the next clue and so on. Once you find your Guilded Blaineley, report to me with all 10 of your clues and the statue. The first 13 to do so are in Season 5!"

"Um, that's nice an all," says Heather, "but we could find any one of your knock-off Guilded Chris' by chance and say it's our when it's really someone elses."

"We figured that, so your names are engraved into them."

Lindsay's face looks brighter now. "So are we staying in this pampering cruise for a while? I think I saw a tanning both near the lobby!"

"Yep!" Blaineley says. "You losers have your own rooms and everything." She threw us the keys to our cabins. "Now get to work and don't bother me, I have important things to do."

Geoff scoffs. "Yeah, like waxing the hairs between your toes."

"ENOUGH!" Blaineley yells, throwing daggers at Geoff. She pushes past DJ and Izzy and exits the room. Everyone's dead silent. I'm the first one to break it. "Does this torture never end?"

Courtney throws my question back in my face. "Please, as if this is torture compared to being chased by bears, falling from a plane, and being stranded in an unfamiliar country, worrying if you're gonna be forgotten because Chris is sleazy! And if you were smart, you would get started right away…hey, she didn't give us our first clues! She…" her voice becomes incoherent has she hastily follows Blaineley. Man she complains a lot.

Noah picks a spot on a nearby table and continues to read. "Eh, I got better things to do with my time."

Most people scatter out the room, probably to find their first clue or just chill. I guess I have enough time to play some tunes before this competition gets heavy.

Gwen and Duncan haven't left yet. Duncan's whispering something in her ear and she's blushing. I clench my hands into a fist. I could make her blush too…well, I used to. I can't lose my cool though.

My legs seem to have a mind of their own, and before I know it, I'm in front of Duncan and Gwen. Crap, what am I doing here? My arms also seem to have their own brain as I hold out my hand for Gwen to shake. She gives me a small smile and takes it.

"Hey Gwen, been a while." Ugh, could I be any more obvious. I'm a total sucker right now!

"It has," she says in a voice I don't recognize. It's like she's choking.

I let go of her hand. "Well, good luck in the competition, if you're doing it anyway…and you too, Duncan," I add. I don't want this to be awkward and I'm just talking to Gwen.

He snorts. "Thanks Elvis, but I don't need it. Already won 2nd season, I can easily win again. Right, babe?" he grabs Gwen by the waist and pulls her closer to him.

My fist clenches again.

Gwen laughs. "Definitely." She looks at me briefly before looking at the floor. "Well…I'll see ya around, Trent." And without waiting for my answer, her and Duncan leave, his left hand on her waist as she leans on him, laughing.

I'm alone in the room. I look at my right hand.

I didn't want to let go.


	3. Chapter 3

**Duncan's P.O.V.**

_Shoo, shoo!_ Alright! I kill the remaining zombies in _Zombies Ate My Neighbors_ in the arcade room.

"Die freakin' zombies!" I scream bloody murder and punch the air. My celebrating is interrupted by a certain ginger.

"Can you be any louder, GOSH!" yells Harold. "Your intense yelling is preventing me in honing my awesome kung fu skills to—"

"Can it, dweeb, before you get another tighty-whitey sandwich," I threaten, pointing the gaming gun at him and using my free hand to put another dollar in the machine. Like I care Harold's playing something too. Good thing Leshawna's not here to protect her skinny little man.

"I've learned from that past mistake, but I'll get you back when you least expect it!"

"I'd like to see you try!" I retort, now aiming my gun at the zombies. A zombie's head falls from its body and rolls to the ground, blood splattering the screen. Damn I'm good!

Harold mumbles something that I could care less about while I see DJ and Geoff enter the room.

"Hey dude, what's up?" Geoff says in his always cheery voice. If I weren't his friend, his constant happy mood would tick me off. Both he and DJ grab 2 chairs and sit next to me.

"Killing zombies, the usual," I reply. I pause the game and fist pound DJ. "Wanna join?"

DJ shakes his head. No surprise there. "Mama raised me not to play violent games." DJ's such a wimp, he needs to man up!

I shrug. "There's cute little bunnies," I lie. "You have to save them from the terrible zombies so they can go to the land of carrots and rainbows."

"Man, I'm not buying that," DJ says, but I can tell he's doubting himself.

Geoff turns to me. "So where's Gwen?"

"She's with Leshawna or something like that."

"So you're just bumming around here and not getting a head start on the competition?"

"Uh, I _would_, only problem is Miss Not-So-Famous never gave us any clues to start."

Geoff and DJ pull out what looks like playing cards from their pockets. Geoff's has a picture of a cow and DJ's says "Rhymes with 'Ocean Pier.'" I take their cards and bust out laughing. "What the hell is this?"

"The clues," answers DJ. "We found them on our beds." I give the cards back to them.

"Have you found the next ones yet?" I ask.

"Not yet," says Geoff, scratching his head. "Me and Deej figured we'd search for our clues together so we'll both be in the final 13! And you and Gwen can join us too—and Bridge! How great is that?"

"Eh, ok, Gwen won't mind," I say. But no one better slow me down…wait a second…why does this feel like another stupid alliance? I'm so tired of that shit, man! This isn't a real game anyway, since I can choose to opt out—but I could really use another million. Another extra never hurt anyone.

"Alright, I'm in," I say, trying to hide my reluctance.

"Awesome!" Geoff high fives me. "But seriously, dude," he lowers his voice and looks around the arcade before he continues. "What's up with you and Courtney?"

His question catches me so off guard that I drop my gun, not bothering to pick it up. I cross my arms.

"What about me and Miss Tight-Ass?" My words come out harsh, like, harsher than I realize. "We've broken up. Or did your lousy Aftermath show skip that part?"

"Hey man, that show taught me some mad skills!" Geoff says defensively.

"Yeah, like how to get an A+ in being mean," mumbles DJ. Ooh, burn! Didn't know Deej had a backbone.

I guess Geoff chooses to ignore the jab, as he says to me "Well _duh_, but c'mon, Dunk, why'd you…you _know_…"

"Know what?" I dare him to say it. Both my arms tense up as I release them from my chest—I'm literally shaking all over now, my fist itching to punch someone—hopefully Harold.

"Why'd you cheat on her?"

I'm sure there's steam coming from my ears as my fingers dig into the palms of my hands. That's all it takes for me not to lose it on Geoff—and the fact I want him to help me with my clues. He can't really help if he's dead. Geoff's face changes to slightly frightened as he can probably see legit fire in my eyes. DJ looks like he's gonna piss his pants.

"Anyone would choose Gwen over Courtney!" I spit out. "Gwen doesn't try to control my life, or give me law abiding contracts for me to follow in our relationship! She doesn't belittle me, run her freaking mouth all the time, and thinks she's so high and mighty when she's not! And—"

"But—" interrupts Geoff, still kinda scared.

"—she doesn't have a pole so far up her butt that it would take forever and a _day_ to pull out!" I screech. Without thinking, I punch the side of the game console. My right knuckles are torn and start to bleed. But the pain only exhilarates my rampage. I see Harold run out the room. My speech picks up speed as I continue to hit the console with both my fists alternating punches, the skin on my knuckles tearing.

"And forget the 'I'm a C-I-T' bull, she's a B-I-T-C—"

"Calm down dude!" Geoff yells, getting to his feet and locking me in a tight grip. I try to shove him off but then DJ comes into the mix and puts us both in a death-lock grip. My legs kick and flail trying to escape but it's no use—my right hand comes in contact with something hard—Geoff's jaw.

Aw, shit, really?

I stop moving and DJ relaxes his arms. I stumble away from them, panting heavily. Geoff just rubs his jaws in shock. At least it didn't leave a mark.

"Look man, I didn't mean to do that," I say, hoping it doesn't sound like I'm pleading. I sit down at a nearby table and fix my eyes on the tablecloth.

Geoff and DJ join me. Geoff continues to rub his jaw. "No prob," he says evenly. There's a few seconds of uncomfortable silence before DJ talks.

"You know he was just asking a simple question," he says seriously. "All those things you said are…kinda true, but dawg…you could've broken up with her. No one deserves that, even if it is Courtney."

What does DJ know about relationships anyway? I've never heard him mention a girlfriend before.

"She was driving me freakin' crazy." My words start to falter. "Plus, it's not like it matters. She still would've acted like this even if I did break up with her and went out with Gwen."

Geoff cuts in. "You make it sound like you were falling for Gwen while still with Courtney. Were you?"

I don't know how to answer that question, so I get up from the table, leave the arcade room, and find a place to clear my head.

**Justin's P.O.V.**

I take a bite of my chicken salad with low fat Italian dressing at one of the tables in the dining room. Even though I don't see any cameras, I know they're there. I have to look fit at all times—hopefully my sleek, tan, body can distract the viewers at home from the deformities on my face. I mean, I can't rely on my Adonis sculpted face anymore to trick women to do what I want—it's madness! Oh why was I cursed to have good looks, only to have them taken away? Was it because I told Beth she looked better with her headgear on? But I was honest! It really brought out the…uh…frames of her glasses?

I eat my salad slowly, looking at my first clue. It's a picture of a yellow duck, a plus sign in the middle, and a roll of tape. Just what am I supposed to do with this? I know my brain's been underused, and I was using it so well in TDA, but it's been on layaway since World Tour. Since I wasn't picked for season 3, I was modeling for Abercrombie and Fitch the whole time. Models don't use their heads—well, for head-shots—they use their butts! Maybe Lindsay has a butt press? Her butt always looks good! I'll have to track her down later.

I look up from my card to see Duncan pass the dining hall and rush out the doors that go to the main deck. He must have a lead to his first clue. Funny, because I don't take him as the ambitious type.

The doors to the dining hall open and Courtney and Bridgette enter. Oh, Courtney! She looks gorgeous with her perfect shoulder length brown hair, her gray shirt with the ivory short-sleeve underneath, her forest green capris, and her sleek wedges! The only thing what would make her even lovelier is if she didn't have a scowl on her face. I _have _to catch her without it! She can't have scowl lines when we take our first picture as a couple—no way can my girlfriend be uglier than me, and I'm already up there!

The fair Courtney and Bridgette begin to sit at a table opposite of me, and well, since I'm all alone and would like some company, I wave them over. Bridgette smiles and comes over with a plate of spaghetti. Courtney continues to glower and comes by with meatloaf.

"Hey, Justin," greets Bridgette.

"Hey, Bridgette," I say, but my eyes are focused on Courtney's intriguing obsidian ones.

"Hello," Courtney says coolly, staring at her plate.

"Well, _hello_," I purr, flashing my pearly whites. She's not even phased! Panic seizes me. Do I have a crouton stuck in my teeth? I grab my mirror on the chair next to me and quickly check. Phew—false alarm.

Bridgette points to my card. "What's that you got there?"

I sigh and give it to her. "For the life of me I have no idea! Do I need to wrap a duck up in tape? Are ducks native on this boat?"

I finally get Courtney's attention—yes! Score 1 for Justin!

"You won't find a duck on this boat, unless DJ's stashing it somewhere." Her words come out a little too…scary, moody, and dark for my liking. But we'll fix that once we become a couple.

"My clue's in DJ's room?" I exclaim.

Courtney sighs impatiently and rolls her eyes. She snatches the card from Bridgette. "Are you kidding me? This is incredibly easy! How can you not know what this means?"

I shrug. "I'm not good at hieroglyphics."

Courtney gives a small 'ha,' but she's faintly smiling. I got her to smile! Score 2!

"I'm fairly surprised you know that word, but not really—this is called a rebus. They're picture puzzles that you sound out. The traditional hieroglyphics are Egyptian pictures. Look," she says pointing to the duck, "they want you to add these words together. The first word is 'duck,' and the next word is tape. Together it's 'ducktape.' What does that sound like to you?"

"Uh…" C'mon brain, spin those wheels! "Duck…tape? There's a kind of tape with ducks printed on it?"

Courtney loses it. She slams her hands on the table, making Bridgette flinch.

"You idiot! '_Duct_-TAPE!' You need to find **DUCT-TAPE**!"

Bridgette sighs and I just laugh. She's so cute when she's mad. I place my right hand on her delicate warm ones and she shrinks away in disgust.

"Oh Courtney," I say, leaning closer to her across the table. "Brains and beauty, it's just too good to be true! Thank you so much!" I flash my winning smile. Wow, even Bridgette's not phased. I think I need to re-apply my whitening strips.

Courtney scoffs. "Spare me the petty compliments."

"What's your clue, Court?" Bridgette asks with a mouthful of spaghetti.

Courtney pulls out a card with an outline of Texas, a plus sign, a chainsaw, another plus sign, and stick figures covered in red crayon.

"Texas Chainsaw Massacre—a movie if you didn't know," she adds for me. "Only I don't know where I would find it. It could be practically anywhere!"

Bridgette finishes her spaghetti. "That's the only thing with this scavenger hunt. It's completely random! I found my 2nd clue in one of the fireplaces almost burned to shreds."

Realization of something hits Courtney's face. "I-I gotta go," she stammers, and leaves in a haste out the dining hall, out of sight. My face pouts. I wanted her to stay longer.

Bridgette gives me a sly grin. "Uh, were you trying to hit on Courtney? Because that totally failed."

I sigh deeply. There's no fooling Bridgette. "I just need to know her better, then she'll come around. She can't resist me forever!"

Bridgette chuckles. "Since when do you like Courtney?"

"Since TDA when she was able to look past my hideous face! And I noticed her inner _and_ outer beauty. And she's smart!" I exclaim. "It's a package deal! And with Duncan out the picture I can finally have her!"

Bridgette gets her plate and Courtney's untouched meatloaf. "Good luck with that," is all she says, putting the dishes in the plate bin on the other side of the room and exiting through the doors.

Courtney will come around. All in due time.

**A/N Ok so I'm bad at line breaking if it doesn't show up-I'll work on that! But do you guys mind if these chapters are long? I kinda want to make them longer and include Courtney's POV with this, but I didn't know if it would be too long of a chapter or not. If you don't mind really long chapters then tell me! I can't gauge how it will look when I publish it. And as for the clues, if you have any ideas/suggestions for them I'll include it! These clues aren't supposed to be really hard, but it takes me a while to think of something decent. But they're not the basis of the story, they just keep it rolling. Please review :D**


	4. Chapter 4 Part 1

**Courtney's P.O.V.**

I forgot that I passed a library when I was finding my room on the second floor. I walk into it and close the doors behind me. This place is designed extravagantly! The ceiling must be over 100 feet high; there's a check out desk on the left and an area with couches and chairs for people to relax in the middle; the carpet is a soft, magenta color, and tall, chestnut bookshelves are _everywhere!_ And what's even better is that Justin would _never_ look for me in here. He's not exactly the most cultured person on this boat—Lindsay probably wins a trophy for that one.

I find the DVD section and look for Texas Chainsaw Massacre under 'T's,' my eyes scanning the never ending list of movies. My thoughts revert back to Justin and I huff out loud. His blatant display of flirting is beyond aggravating. Is he trying to distract me from winning? He needs to improve his performance if he wants me to even merely _glance_ at him. His whole body reeks of conceitedness and he_ so_ needs new contacts! He looks like a deranged vampire! Not to mention better whitening strips, as I'm sure he uses them—ugh.

I stop in my tracks and scowl. Texas Chainsaw Massacre is missing from the shelf—of course! Because this mediocre scavenger hunt isn't already useless enough. Earning a spot in the final 13 doesn't require any physical activity or hidden talents; it's just a second-rate game of Hide and Seek! Why can't my C-I-T skills be of any use here?

"I want to speak to the librarian!" I demand, trying to find my way back to the check-out desk. You would think there would be a librarian in this boat—I know there's other staff here lurking about. I've seen a couple of cooks make dinner and people stationed at spas and other amenities looking bored. I know we're not the only one's here.

To my surprise, I see Chef watching a small television at the check-out desk. He wasn't here a second ago. And shouldn't he be with Chris on the island? He sees me and narrows his eyes. "I'm the librarian around here!" he barks. "What do you want, cadette?"

His presence doesn't intimidate me. I march right over to him and get close to his face. He doesn't even flinch from me, his eyes boring into mine.

"Where is Texas Chainsaw Massacre? If Chris or Blaineley are purposefully trying to make me lose, you _will_ hear from my lawyers for wrongful sabotage!"

Chef grunts and shoves a piece of paper in my hand that reads 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Room 8.'

"The green-haired Mohawk boy took it a couple of hours ago," he snaps. "He's got it for 2 weeks—take your mess up with him!"

My heart skips a beat. Why, why, WHY? My head becomes woozy and I grip the edge of the counter to keep from falling. I can't just go to him and ask for it! I start trembling.

Breathe in…breathe out…

In…out…

I regain my composure. "Fine!" I dash out the library to find Room 8. I go into a short hallway near the lobby and see room 2…4…6…

I stop in front of 8. A huge rock is lodged in my throat as I stare at the door. What if he's in there with Gwen? Cuddling, making out, or…_that?_

My feet are rooted in place and I can feel a sweat break out on my forehead. Slowly, I press my right ear to the door…I don't hear anything. He must be gone. I dart my head left and right to see if anyone's coming. I can't risk getting caught and have this blown out of proportion. Seeing no one in sight, I clutch the doorknob and cautiously turn it.

It opens. Why is he so careless? Someone could take complete advantage of his privacy! Someone could steal his belongings! If you consider an amateurly carved wooden skull to be of any value, that is.

His room is surprisingly clean, but that's because it's only our first day here. Blaineley still never put our luggage in our rooms. I guess she wants us to be dirty for the rest of the trip. Like my room, there's a king-sized bed in the middle with a yellow comforter and white sheets, a circular window on the left side of the wall, a bathroom, a television across from the bed, and mahogany drawers to the right of the bed.

I quickly shut the door behind me, making sure not to be loud. Since there's nothing in this room, finding the DVD shouldn't be hard. I look under his pillows, in the bed, and finally the drawers, where it's laying in plain sight in the 5th drawer.

Triumphant, I snatch the DVD and find my second clue card inside the case. I guess he hasn't watched it yet or mistook the card for something irrelevant. I put the card in my pocket when I hear voices coming closer and closer to the door.

I feel like the bastard himself just punched me in the gut and knocked the wind out of me.

Trying to catch my breath, and with the DVD case still in my hand, I lunge for the closet at the end of the room and close the door just as the front door opens. Ugh, the only thing in here is his suitcase! At least Blaineley had the decency to finally give us our luggage. I curl myself into a ball and hide behind the luggage in the far left corner.

I can hear the douchebag's arrogant voice…and another voice that sounds like Tyler. The cheater's voice comes through, but muffled by the closet.

"—and we're gonna make some awesome cannonballs! Let me just get my towel." I hear him pull out a drawer and then close it. The front door shuts.

I wait in the dark for what seems like an infinite amount of time. I'm sure 10 minutes have passed and he's not coming back. I slowly inch out the closet and then breathe the sigh of relief I've been unknowingly holding in for so long. I crawl out the closet and step towards the drawers to put the DVD back when I hear heavy footsteps approach the door.

Instinctively, I run into the bathroom, hide in the shower, and draw the blue curtains and liner to conceal me. What does he need now? Is Gwen with him? Am I going to be subjected to unwanted noises that will haunt me for the remainder of my life?

The front door opens, and I hear footsteps inch their way to the bathroom. No, no, NO! My whole body's on edge and I can feel my skin being pricked by tiny, miniscule, needles. The white, cool bathtub floor that is pressed against my cheek snaps me from my moment of insanity. Since when am I afraid of Duncan? Oh right, when I'm trespassing in his cabin and looking like a desperate ex-girlfriend! Which I'm _not!_

He's in the doorway of the bathroom now. He's not moving—why'd he stop?

My nose tingles—no! I can't—

"ACHOO!"

The shower curtain draws back abruptly and his turquoise eyes widen in astonishment. His mouth opens the same time as mine.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

**Duncan's P.O.V.**

All I did was come back in my room to get soap and there's Courtney curled up in my bathtub like a freakin' baby. I knew it was her as soon as she sneezed—she sneezes like a yeti.

I point a finger at her. "What are you doing? Get out!" Is she really that pissed that she has to stalk me?

Courtney's shaking—since when does she ever get scared?—and stands up from the tub floor. At one point, I would've been turned on by her fiery dark eyes and her flushed face—yeah, those days are gone.

"What are you doing back already?" She answers me back with a question.

"You've just admitted you've been stalking me, _Princess_." I say Princess like it smells like Harold's underwear—cuz it does.

And she loses it. Who would've guessed?

"I've had the unfortunate pleasure to come into your room because my 2nd clue was in this movie!" she shrieks, glaring at me and holding up Texas Chainsaw Massacre. "And you don't have the right to call me that anymore! I revoke it!"

I roll my eyes and cross my arms over my chest. She needs to take a freakin' chill pill cuz I can't deal with a psycho Courtney.

"Well, _Princess_," I sneer, and I'm happy to see Courtney's face is getting redder and redder. "You never gave me that right, so I'll call you 'Princess' all I damn want. And here I thought Miss C-I-T had better things to do than stalk an ex-boyfriend's room. Obviously at whatever shit-hole camp you went to, they didn't teach you the basics of stalking because you would've known I came to get soap—" I grab the bottle from the sink—"to fill the pool to make a bubble bath. Sign up for juvie and you might learn a thing or two." Oh yeah, she'll like that one—I'm already smirking at her mouth that just dropped open. Now that she's here, I'm actually looking at Courtney for the first time since being on the boat. She still has the same brown hair, tan skin, and preppy outfit. After Miss Not-So-Famous' life-changing announcement, I haven't bumped into her. Yeah, it's still Day 1, but 8 hours of being Courtney free is like an accomplishment.

I look at her trembling body and I get even angrier. She brought this on herself, sneaking around in my room! She should just leave if she hates me so much.

Courtney closes her mouth after my last remark and I smirk wider. She's still trembling, but I know it's from anger this time. Her eyes are completely coal-black as both her hands turn into fists.

Here comes my favorite part.

"YOU VILE, IDIOTIC, FOUL-MOUTHED, OBTUSE, WANNA-BE BADASS NEANDERTHAL—"

I zone out her rambling. I've never had so many compliments in 5 seconds. She's really outdoing herself!

"Keep the compliments coming, Princess," I interrupt, but then realize 'wanna-be badass' isn't a compliment. Juvie don't make you a 'wanna-be,' alright?

I see a crowd of people in my room before I point this out. I guess Courtney doesn't care because her whiny voice is still going strong. Man she has a mouth on her—I do _not_ miss that.

"—DON'T EVEN _**THINK**_ ABOUT ASSOCIATING ME TO YOUR TRIVIAL LEVELS OF DELIQUENCY! I—"

I turn around to see who's behind me in the bathroom doorway. Owen's eating an ice cream sandwich; Lindsay and Beth look scared out of their panties; Sierra's holding onto Cody like she's watching a horror movie; Geoff and DJ look…like they saw this coming, and Bridgette's face is pale.

Sierra speaks up. "You tell him, Courtney! He's a scumbag who doesn't deserve happiness, right Cody-bear?" she gushes at the end. Ugh, they make me wanna hurl. I don't mind having a crowd come and watch the entertainment; they can see just how much of a lunatic Courtney is. But Sierra and her Spineless Sidekick can leave if they're not on my side.

Courtney stops spitting out insults that I've drowned out. She locks her eyes with mine and smirks. "At least I have supporters—and looks like your biggest one is conveniently absent—Gwen." She says 'Gwen' like it's some type of disease.

I narrow my eyes at her and now my hands are clenched. I'm eager to punch Courtney's head off her shoulders. Her prissy mouth better take that back. I hear Beth and Lindsay talk.

"Do you think they're actually gonna fight?" Beth says worriedly.

"I don't know, think about Duncan's mirror—if they break it, how will he do his hair in the morning?" Gasps Lindsay. How'd I deal watching a movie for 2 hours with _her?_

I put my attention back on Courtney. "At least people like me—you just order people around and expect everyone to kiss your ass! Now get out!" I jab my thumb to the bathroom doorway, searing my eyes into Courtney's who's searing back into mine. I'd so win this if it was a staring contest. If she doesn't get out that tub I'll—

"Gladly!" she yells, and throws the DVD case with full force. Right. At. My. Kiwis.

"AAAHH!" I grab my crotch and the DVD case as burning pain hits me. I double over, whimpering, as I hear "Oooh's" from the crowd. I land on the floor and rock back and forth, fighting tears as I shut my eyes.

I open my eyes slowly, still pushing back tears and wincing as I see Courtney smiling—she's a freakin' sadist!

"Have fun trying to procreate!" Those are her last words as she steps over me, walks through the crowd, and out my room—_finally._

People start to mumble and leave. Yeah, leave the guy who's on the floor holding his kiwis!

Owen shakes his head. "And right in the kiwis—I know that all too well." He comes over to me. "Need a hand, buddy?"

I take it and slowly stand up, my left hand protectively covering my crotch in case anyone else has any smart ideas.

"Did you see that?" I tell the whole crowd. "She's a freakin' stalker! Don't tell me you think this is my fault!"

DJ and Geoff shake their heads. "Dude, you're making this harder on yourself," Geoff says. Like I care.

Everyone then exits the room and I'm left by myself. My head's pounding from fighting with Courtney and I'm not thinking straight. I release my fists to let my fingers move freely. She always ruins my day—here I was all hyped up to do cannonballs in the biggest bubble bath, and then I have to deal with this? With _her?_

I let out a long sigh. I have to cool off somewhere.

I leave my room and close the door behind me, locking it this time in case I get another surprise. I turn right in the hallway and come back to the lobby. I rush through the double doors that lead back to the main deck and go up the stairs on the far left of the boat that leads to the top deck, taking 2 stairs at a time.

My body relaxes as I get to the top deck. When I was here after hitting Geoff earlier today, it looked completely different—it was the afternoon, so the white Christmas lights that are wrapped around the railings are now on. This area's pretty spacey like a dance floor and there are random plants in the corner decorated with red Christmas lights. Maybe I'll take Gwen up here with me—she'd dig it.

I make my way to the railing across from me and lean my elbows on it, staring at a few stars in the night sky. I glance at my red knuckles as a result from hitting Geoff. I wanna put that behind me—I really didn't mean to hit him—I was losing it and then he had to bring up if I liked Gwen when I was still with Courtney. Even I don't know about that. We were just friends and got closer in TDA when Courtney wasn't there—I still liked her, but then she had to mess it up with her controlling self.

I grip the railing with both hands to stop shaking from rage. We kept making up and breaking up since TDA and it was freakin' annoying. The 4 months we were on break and getting ready for World Tour, we'd visit each other's houses, and I'd sleep over sometimes. Weirdly, her family actually _liked _me—I think cuz I took her _away_ from home. Even her parents don't wanna deal with her crap.

And I started hanging out with Gwen more over the break too. She was cool to be around—and she had to deal with me talk about Courtney being stupid. I give her props for listening. Listening to me tell her that Courtney was mapping out my life—picking my colleges, telling me to get a summer job, get along with my parents more—why was I gonna listen to Little Miss Perfect when she had her own issues? And I wasn't complaining about them to her face?

I give out a long sigh again, more relaxed than a few minutes ago. It Courtney wasn't Courtney—nah, like that would happen. She's not the same girl I fell for. And I guess that's why I like Gwen so much—she's everything Courtney's not. I've never dated any girls that I was friends with first, so dating Gwen is different.

Cooled off now, I go down the steps to the main deck and out the doors to the lobby, making my way to my room. Princess is just gonna have to suck it up that we're done. And if I catch her in my room again she's _dead._

I get to my hallway and raise my eyebrows—Gwen's outside my door. She sees me and waves. All my thoughts of Courtney are pushed out the door when I see her and I give her that smile that's only for her.

"Hey, gorgeous," I say and hug her.

"Hey, yourself," she says back and ends the hug. "So your door's locked—why?"

I roll my eyes. "Prin—uh, Courtney was hiding in there earlier." Gwen hates when I call Courtney that, and I get it. It's just a bad habit.

Gwen doesn't jump to conclusions about that statement—if I said the same thing to Courtney she would've exploded.

"I guess someone can't move on," she says shrugging.

"That too, and the fact her second clue was in there…how long have you been here?" I didn't notice how long I was out.

She grins. "Only about 10 minutes. I just came from Leshawna's room and figured I'd stop by since I haven't seen you since 2."

I take out my key and unlock the door. "After you," I gesture inside. I'm so sappy around Gwen, but I guess doing corny stuff like that happens when you really like someone. Never did that with Courtney.

I follow her in and don't even hide the fact I'm staring at her butt in that skirt of hers. She sits on the edge of my bed and meets my eyes—I've been caught, but she gives me a sly grin. Her face is so red now! She's too cute. I sit to the left of her.

"So…" I start.

"What happened to your knuckles?" She looks puzzled. Do I really wanna explain that?

"I used Harold as a punching bag."

She hits me pretty good in my left shoulder, giving me a 'you really think I believe that?' look.

"Really, what happened?" She touches my knuckles lightly, looking at me for a real answer.

"I hit the machine at the arcade—I lost the game." I wish she'd just drop it. I guess this is a good answer because she stops.

"Take it easy next time," she chuckles, and then pulls a card from her skirt pocket. "I have the dumbest clue ever." She reads a statement on the card. "'Find fishes purple, green, and blue, and underneath will be your next clue.' Have you seen a fishbowl anywhere?"

I shrug. "I've never really explored the boat, it's kinda bigger than it looks from the outside. Where'd you find your clue anyway? DJ and Geoff said they found it in their rooms but I don't see anything."

Gwen gets up and walks to the pillow on the right side of the bed. She lifts it up and grabs the clue card that was hidden there. She hands it to me and sits back in her spot.

What the hell is this? This clue makes no sense. "'Butter, milk, eggs, frosting, candles, sugar, apples, baking soda, salt, and vanilla?'" I start laughing hysterically and Gwen joins me. "What is this, a grocery list?" I throw the card at the door. "All Geoff had was a picture of a cow! Why does this sound like a cake?"

"They want you to bake a cake?" Gwen's bending over and holding her sides from laughing. I'm getting a little turned on by her laughing but I contain myself—for now.

"We can deal with it tomorrow," I say, calming down my laughter. "Geoff and Deej want us to find clues with them and Malibu, that way we can all be in the final 13 together. You in?"

Gwen's laughter dies down and she smiles. "Sounds good to me…so I heard Owen talking about a pool party later tonight—"

"Yeah it's on right now. Me and Tyler were gonna fill the pool with soap and make this wicked bubble bath. It's probably filled right now." But I don't wanna go just yet, as I stare into Gwen's eyes. She gives a devious smile and I wrap both my hands around her waist and sit her on my lap. Her face is totally an open book—I can tell she's flustered and I'm loving every single minute of it.

She stammers out her next words as I remove my right hand from her waist and start caressing her right thigh, grinning. Doesn't take long to turn Gwen on.

"D-do you w-wanna go to the party?" She already knows the answer but is asking me anyway—I love this girl! Her face is a tomato right now as she's grinning mysteriously, looking down at my hand on her thigh.

"Hey, did you forget your promise?" I smile at her. "Alone time after the dumb announcement—you can't hold out on me now. We'll go later."

She opens her mouth to say something but I don't wanna hear it—in one motion I cup Gwen's chin and capture her mouth with mine. She kisses me back and I can feel she's smiling underneath our kiss. I tug her hair lightly with my left hand and we both fall on the bed. I position myself on top of her as her arms find their way around my neck, pulling me closer to deepen the kiss. I bite her lower lip and tug on it fiercely, hearing a quick intake of breath from her that gets my heart racing.

I ease up my right hand from her thigh and inch it closer to her stomach, as I kiss her harder, more feverishly. My hand is flat on her stomach as I rub my thumb back and forth on her pale body. She's squirming because she's ticklish there, which makes it even more fun for me. I then slide my hand under her thin shirt and find her bra, stroking it. I break away from Gwen's mouth and start nipping at the left side of her neck—her whole body freezes and I stop.

I turn my face to look at Gwen. "What?" I say heavily. I'm kinda fired up here and don't wanna stop. She's never complained about hickies before.

Her eyes are dead serious. "Not right now," she says sternly. I'm surprised her voice is so strong, cuz it's usually weak and what not when we make out. "I don't wanna go to the party with hickies everywhere—that's just gross."

Ok, I get it—it makes sense, but I'm still in the zone to touch her everywhere.

I brush my lips against the spot on her neck that I was at earlier and Gwen shivers—way too easy to read.

"I'm not gonna do anything you don't wanna do," I murmur into her neck. "Promise." I take my mouth off her neck and look back into her dark eyes and grin at her. "Got that?"

Gwen gives me a mischievous grin and wraps her legs around my waist, pulling me closer to her so that our lips are just centimeters apart. Damn, it's taking me everything not to rip off her clothes right now. But I don't want a kick to my face…or my kiwis, so I don't.

"Ok," she whispers huskily as I feel the word vibrate softly on my mouth. In an instant she crashes her mouth against mine and I groan loudly as she pulls tightly on my hair.

We are _so_ not going to that party.

**A/N Ok I've officially given up on line breaks, and it's much easier without them! So thank you so much for people who reviewed, you're reviews have actually given me new ideas for my story! And I decided I would break longer chapters into parts, so part 2 will come soon! :D Review if you like!**


	5. Chapter 4 Part 2

**Trent's P.O.V.**

Somehow, I got lost in this random hallway trying to find my second clue. I look at the card in my hand that says "Follow the white rabbit." All I can think of is Alice in Wonderland but that doesn't make any sense. It sounds like there's a trail of rabbits hidden somewhere. Man this clue really _sucks._ I don't think anyone else's is this bad—or this hard.

I stop walking and look to see where I am. Ok, I'm on the first floor—but all the first floor hallways have the same green walls, so that doesn't help me. Have I already been here? I've passed an ice skating rink, a bowling alley, and a movie theatre 4 times already! Ugh, I think I'm still in the same spot. Man, I'm never gonna win this challenge.

My face slams hard into a wall. "AAH!" I grab my nose and rub it as I spin around dizzily. Ok, I need to concentrate! The bridge of my nose is still burning, though. I think I just need some…luck!

" 9!" I say in a rush, rubbing my nose harder and continuing to walk in the hallway. " 9! 1 2 3—"

I stop counting when I see that I've turned a corner and I stop in my tracks. There's a horizontal single file line of white rabbit pictures on the left wall!

"Booyah!" I pump my fist in the air. It's about time I found it- can't go wrong with 9! I bet it's under the 9th bunny too!

I run up to the 9th rabbit and tear it off the wall. I look at the back of it and see another card. I take it and grin. Everyone thinks I'm so obsessed with 9, but look who has their 2nd card!

I look at my next clue. "'Find fishes yellow, orange, and blue, and underneath will be your next clue.'" Um, yeah…no idea where to look for that. Why are these riddles so vague? I'm mentally done, I can't think right now.

I continue walking through the hallway until I wind up back to the lobby. My room is in the hallway right next to the breakfast bar. As I enter the hallway, I see a crowd of people outside a room and shouting. What's going on?

As I walk closer, I see Geoff and DJ wincing as they watch whatever is going on in the room.

"Have fun trying to procreate!" Wait, that's Courtney's voice. Who is she talkingto? Someone must've really gotten on her bad side—but then, that's everybody.

I see her stumble out the room and dash out the hallway past me, into the lobby, and out of sight.

I look into the room with all the commotion and see Duncan holding his crotch. It's pretty obvious what happened, but something's off.

"Hey DJ, what happened?" I ask.

DJ shrugs. "All I know is Courtney was in Duncan's room and they started fighting. Don't they know they need to make love not war? Love makes the world go 'round—that's what Mama said."

I'm sure it'll be millions of years away before Duncan and Courtney ever 'make love.' Ewww, I don't need that image in my head! Get out! Stupid, stupid!

I guess I was hitting my head a lot because DJ and Geoff are looking at me weird—as if they don't think I'm weird enough for having a lucky number.

"Well, dude, when you're done hitting yourself, come to the indoor pool at 8 today!" says Geoff. "We're gonna PAR-TAAAY!" He starts dancing.

"Cool, I'll be there!" I say, nodding my head. "See you guys around!"

I start to head to my room that's a couple of doors down, but I have this weird idea to find Courtney. She might wanna know about the party too, and she could loosen up.

I walk back to the lobby, thinking where she could be. I don't have time to find the girls' room and I'm too tired to run around this huge ship. I don't even know where the pool is either—I'm screwed. So much for the party or finding Courtney. I think I'll play the piano that's in the ballroom to pass the time.

When I get closer to the ballroom, I hear someone already playing the piano. Really? I thought I was the only one who played music here. And I'm sure there's another piano around here somewhere but I'm not finding it. I go into the room anyway just to see who's playing and see if I can kick them off.

I open the doors to hear Beethoven's Symphony Number 7. And then I see it's Courtney—playing with _a lot_ of anger. She doesn't even see me since the room's pitch black, except for the single spotlight that's on her. I can't see her hands but I know they're moving incredibly fast—she's really good at it. I knew she played the violin, but—wow, who taught her how to play the piano? She's like, _amazing_, and plays the piece really well; only she's making all the soft parts ear-splittingly loud. But it doesn't sound like she's crashing down on the keys-she plays them with ease, but I can feel her anger boiling in the room. I stupidly didn't think that she would be angry when I talked to her…and now I'm scared.

I walk up on the stage and she jumps in her seat, putting her hand over her heart and glaring at me.

"Geez, you scared me, Trent! Why didn't you say you were in here?"

"You sounded really good," I say, ignoring her question. "Where'd you learn to play?"

She puts her nose in the air. "Only from the best pianist in Canada…and if you want to play, you're gonna have to wait. I'm…not in the best mood right now." She has a hazy look in her eyes. I'm not gonna bring up what I saw earlier—I like my kiwis a lot.

"Well, there's a pool party at 8 tonight, you should come! It would relax you more, and you won't be so doom and gloomy."

She stares at the piano keys. "Maybe…now can you leave?" She's annoyed. "I was alone in here for a reason."

That's what I get for being helpful. Whatever, I don't wanna be around her anyway.

The ballroom's silent as I leave. I really need to find someone to hang out with. It kinda sucks when you hang out with your girlfriend all the time on a stupid reality show, and then you have no one to be with when you break up.

**Justin's P.O.V.**

This pool party is seriously off the chain! Tyler, Cody, Bridgette, and Izzy are shooting each other with water guns and running around the pool's edge, Eva and Harold are having a swimming race, Leshawna and Noah are stretching out on chairs, and I'm just chillaxing in the jacuzzi with Beth, Lindsay, Katie, and Sadie. I knew my charms would work again on Beth because now she can't stop staring at me with her squinty brown eyes. I guess I was too much for her to handle and she couldn't resist my awesome powers of seduction anymore. Take that Brady, I stole your girl! I would gloat more about becoming the center of Beth's universe again but Sadie, who's on my left, and Katie, on my right, keep rubbing their hands on my shoulders and giggling like they never saw a handsome man before. I don't mind, though, my ego needs boosting after that TDA train wreck. If it takes these 2 bimbos to do that, then fine!

I see Tyler stop his water gun fight and pull out tons of soap bottles from a storage closet, dumping all of it in the pool. It instantly becomes a bubble bath and everyone cheers.

"Oh my gosh!" Sadie squeals, jumping up and down, splashing water on my face. I push her away from me.

"Not my face, I can't take any more damage!" I yell frantically. The water might sizzle my face and burn it off! That is a_ huge_ no-no! I'd be out of a contract so fast it wouldn't even be funny!

Sadie's not paying attention to me. "It's like we're in a bathtub! I wanna go in!"

"Oh my gosh, we should go in together!" Katie squeals back. "It'll be _so_ awesome!"

"Oh my gosh let's do it!"

"Eeee!"

"EEEE!"

"Just shut up and go in already!" I say irritatingly, and push them out the jacuzzi. They run hand in hand to the deep end of the pool and jump in, creating a huge splash of pink soap that floats in the air. They laugh and attack each other's faces with foam.

I sit back down in the jacuzzi and touch my hair—still dry. I really can't afford to get that wet—the cheap conditioner I found in my room will destroy my brunette tresses and I'm running out the conditioner I packed with me. I knew I should've brought 20 instead of 18! I'll have to ask my mom to ship me some. Cruises have mailboxes, right? Or at least storage?

Beth is really close to me and I can smell her hot breath—what did she have for dinner, a dead rat? Sorry karma, that was rude of me! Please don't take away my beautiful face! Her breath smells great! The sweetest I've ever smelled! I pick up my mirror that's lying on the pool tiles behind me and check my face, sighing in relief—still handsome!

"So Justin," Beth starts, and I frown, putting my mirror away. No one interrupts my mirror time! "How far are you in finding your clues?"

"Not far." I lean closer to her and run my fingers through my hair so slowly. So. Slowly. "But maybe you can help me with that." If I sucker her into saying yes, I won't have to do any work!

Lindsay breaks my seduction. "After my Best Female Friend helps me with mine! We're working together, remember?"

Beth shakes her head and laughs nervously. "Oh yeah, we are. Sorry Justin. I could help you after."

"What good does that do?" I sigh. Curse you Lindsay! I could've reeled Beth in. And where's Courtney? All my flirting is going to waste. Does she not like pools? I'll keep note of that.

I see Trent walk in and Katie and Sadie quickly get out the pool and drool over him next. He looks uncomfortable as they touch his hair and chest. What does he have that I don't? I'm tan, muscular, and don't have a psychotic obsession. Are girls attracted to crazies? I really need a notepad to write this down.

Trent jumps in the foam pool and starts a race with Owen. I'd challenge both of them, but I can't risk getting my hair wet. 'Tis the life of a model!

Then I see someone beautiful catch my eye—Courtney. She's wearing a pink halter bikini top and matching pink swim shorts. It flatters her body nicely! She looks distracted though, and heads to the closet at the other side of the pool.

I get out the jacuzzi and follow her. Once I'm behind her, I tap her lightly on her shoulder. She shrieks, turns around, and slaps me in my face—NOOOOOO!

"AAH! I'M GONNA BE UGLY FOREVER!" I wail. I guess karma got me for insulting Beth's breath. The right side of my face _burns_ as I hold my right hand to it.

Courtney's mouth drops a little. "Oh, _you_," is all she says. Yes me, the man who's gonna be the love of your life! But I can't get mad at Courtney, she didn't know I had a no-hands-to-the-face-policy. Even though she hasn't said anything, her eyes look a teeny bit sorry.

"No biggie, no biggie," I assure her, waving my free hand. She seems to relax a little. "I shouldn't have snuck up on you so quick. You like the party so far?"

She snorts. "If this is your idea of entertainment, then sure. But I really came for my 3rd clue."

"Then why are you in your bathing suit?"

"In-in case I wanted a break!" she stammers. "The pool _is _right here!" Without waiting to hear my reply, she opens the closet door and goes through a box that's on the floor. She gets up from the floor and shows me her card.

"Wow, you're _brilliant,_ Courtney!" I praise. "Astounding! Terrific! Impertinent!" I bumped up my compliments since dinner. I see she can't help but beam. I've found out girls like it when you compliment them on their brain instead of their looks—who knew?

Apparently that last word didn't go well because her face frowns. Stupid online thesaurus, I should've just thought of my own words!

"_What _did you just call me?"

"I said you were smart!"

"You just said I was brash, presumptuous, and rude!" I don't even know what that middle word is, but I know it's bad because she's fuming. "That's the _bad_ smart!"

"It's ok mon cheri, I'm sorry," I say, touching a strand of her soft brown hair. She slaps my hand away and narrows her eyes at me.

"Get your manicured fingers off of me! If you touch me again I'll—"

"Hey, is there a problem?" Trent comes out of nowhere and eyes both me and Courtney curiously. Courtney turns her wrath on him.

"No one asked you for your _help,_" she spat. Wow, she's so feisty—I like that! "So you might as well leave."

Trent puts up his hands. "I just wanted to make sure Justin didn't get slapped again—I heard it from the other side of the pool."

"Well now that your curiosity's satisfied, you have no business to be here anymore."

I can tell things are heating up—Courtney's eyes have fire, and Trent…I'm a little afraid of him. He's looking at her with a crazy expression—well, he is a nutcase.

I slowly back up from them. "I'm just…gonna…head back to the jacuzzi…" They're not even listening as they continue arguing, and I ease my way out the conversation. Courtney can hold her own.

I spot Bridgette in the jacuzzi by herself. Maybe I can get some inside information about Courtney from her.

**Gwen's P.O.V.**

Me and Duncan come to the party late, but it was worth it. Why was I freaking out earlier that Duncan would pressure me into…that? I should've known he would've been a gentleman about it. Coming into the pool holding his hand still gives me shivers. I'm just glad he's finally mine.

I see loads of pink and blue bubbles in the air and people jumping off the diving board into pink foam.

"Wow, Tyler really out did himself," I say in awe.

"Who knew he wouldn't screw it up?" Duncan laughs, and then let's go of my hand to make a cannonball in the pool, creating a huge splash. Leshawna shrieks from the chair at the edge of the pool. "Not the hair! This weave can't handle it!"

"You're telling me, sister," says Justin from the jacuzzi.

I roll my eyes. Justin keeping his image as usual. I'm sure he's a nice guy, I just never really got to talk to him. If he wasn't so worried about his looks, he'd be a decent person…I guess.

I'm about to jump in after Duncan but I see Trent to my right sitting at the edge of the shallow end of the pool, and talking to Cody of all people who's sitting next to him. And it's rare not to see Sierra with him. He probably escaped from her while she was sleeping.

My mouth is kinda dry when I walk up to Trent. I haven't seen him or talked to him since Blaineley's announcement. And that was awkward enough, with my current boyfriend and my ex talking while I'm just standing there. But Duncan's occupied so it won't be weird this time. So why is my heart pounding so heavily?

Trent turns his attention to me and gives a half smile, but he's still sitting on the floor. "Hey, Gwen."

"Hey." Is that seriously all we can say to each other now? I was thinking he would get up and hug me, but since he hasn't offered, I'm not gonna do it.

"Hey Gwen!" Cody says a little too chipper. "Glad you could make it!" I see him eyeing me hungrily in my black tube top that cuts off at my midriff and my black shorts. He is such a creeper.

"Yeah," I say sourly. Why can't he just go away? There's no chance we're getting together—_ever_. I mean, I gave him my bra, what more does he want?

I think he gets the message because he lowers himself in the pool and laughs nervously. "I-I'll talk to you later Gwen, but I have to, um, do some laps! Later!" He swims away, darting glances at me and Trent.

I take Cody's spot and dip my feet in. There's a short pause. Why aren't we talking? Is he ignoring me? I look at him but he's staring at the pool. He finally says something.

"So how've you been?"

How have I been? How have I _been?_ What am I, a stranger? My heart sinks.

"Good," is all I say. I wanna talk but he's making this weird. A couple more seconds of silence pass before I add "I spent most of it with Leshawna exploring. Do you know there's like, 3 clubs in here? We so have to do that soon! I mean, I don't like dancing, but you know that. It's just something to do."

"Good to know," is all he says. He's still not looking at me—he's just staring at the pool's surface like it's so much more interesting.

"How have you been?" I offer. Let's see how he likes the question now. He shrugs.

"Fine."

Ok, Trent is getting on my nerves. What else can I say? Why won't he talk to me? Can't he be friendly even though we're not dating anymore?

"I got my first clue," I say next. He seems to perk up at that. "It says 'Find fishes purple, green, and blue—'"

"'—and underneath will be your next clue," he finishes.

"Uh, yeah, how'd you know that?"

"I have the same clue, only with different colored fish." He now looks into my eyes and my heart stops. He looks so soulless and empty.

"Oh, so we have the same one! Why don't we find them tomorrow?" I say quickly and eagerly, hoping this gets our conversation rolling.

Trent gives another half smile. "Ok, sure thing. Um," he starts, and his eyes travel to—Courtney? "I'll be back, I have to do something. Don't leave, ok?" He gets up without waiting for my answer and goes to Courtney. Since when do Trent and Courtney ever talk?

She's in another jacuzzi by herself and he gets in to join her. She has a scowl on her face but then it slowly goes away. I don't wanna know what they're talking about, and seeing her face makes my stomach turn because she could see me with Duncan—I mean, so what if she sees me with him, he's _my _boyfriend now!

I don't listen to Trent's orders and swim into the foam to meet Duncan. He's playing net volleyball with Owen, Geoff, DJ, and Eva. I splash water behind Duncan's head and he spins around, but I duck into the water and hold my breath. He can't see me because the foam's so thick. I can barely see under the water, but I can make out the outline of his legs and know he turned back to play again. I come back up, splash him again, and duck. I hear his angry, muffled, voice above the water and I try not to laugh but I am and come back up for air.

As soon as I do, he splashes foam into my face, burning my eyes. It doesn't matter because I'm still laughing.

"I caught you, Gwen," he teases. "You think I didn't know it was you?"

"Guilty," I say, putting my hands up. He suddenly puts his hands around my waist and kisses me, making me melt. Yeah, corny, but that's how I feel. I wrap my hands around his neck and now we're full on making out.

I hear Izzy yell out "Look everyone, it's the new Geoff and Bridgette!"

"Get a room!" Geoff jokes.

I pull away from Duncan and I feel my face get hot. Duncan hits the beach ball in Geoff's face and says "Coming from the guy who should win a gold medal for it!"

They start pounding each other with beach balls and I turn around to get the one behind me when I stop in my tracks. Courtney's staring at me. And she's shaking. Crap, I forgot she was here, or I wouldn't have…I wouldn't…

She runs out the room, but not before I see…are those _tears_ coming down her face?

My stomach's in a knot, and it hurts. I see Justin get out of his jacuzzi and run after her. Ok, this is weird. What's up with him? I see Trent, who's still stitting in the jacuzzi, just watch them go.

And even though I'm surrounded by so many people, I feel so alone, with the knot in my stomach working its way up to my heart.

**A/N Quickest update EVER! I was actually supposed to update it yesterday but I got held up in a lot of stuff. Thanks for all your reviews, it really means a lot to me :D**

**Also, there's gonna be a couple of songs coming up in this story, so to hear what they sound like I'm putting the links in my profile since I posted this up and it was coming up as a broken link-if you wanna listen to them, I mean you don't have to haha. Just copy it it another browser.**

**The song Courtney is playing is in my profile. It's pretty long but you get the idea of what she was playing. **

**See ya later! :D**


	6. Chapter 5

**Courtney's P.O.V.**

Somehow, I make my way back to my room through blurred eyesight, lock my door, and flop down on my bed, burying my face on my pillow. I'm shaking uncontrollably as if I'm experiencing a seizure and—

Waterfalls pour from my eyes—and they won't stop. They're just flowing and flowing and I can't make them stop! I wanted to be strong! I thought I could handle seeing them kiss; I bore through it while we were all on the main deck. And now I'm dry heaving, wailing on my bed like a loser because they finally got the best of me. They win, and it hurts so much—it hurts I can't get him back and I hate myself for it!

I clutch the comforter with both my hands in pain, in agony, in hot-blooded rage into my pillow, sobbing. The core of my stomach feels like the aftermath of vomiting even though I haven't, but I know I will soon. I scream my entire being again into the pillow, kicking my feet back and forth on the bed while a loud moan involuntarily escapes my mouth. My hair is getting damp from my wet pillow, so I just flip it to the other side.

Goal accomplished, you bastard—you've broken my tough shield, tearing it down to a person I don't even recognize anymore—an over jealous, weak, unconfident shell of a girl. And I hate you for it!

"I HATE YOU SO MUCH YOU BASTARD!" I yell between sobs into my pillow. "I WISH YOU WOULD DIE! I WISH—"

Repetitive, loud knocking on my door interrupts my rant, and I know who it is—as if his constant sayings of "Courtney, wait" weren't enough as he was following me from the pool. Does he _want_ a death wish?

"Courtney, what's wrong?" Justin asks worriedly, still banging on my door. I'm going to get a serious migraine if he keeps it up. And I never asked for his company, so who gave him the right to comfort me? I'm fine on my own!

My voice sounds croaky like a frog as I manage to choke out "Just leave me **ALONE!** Go back to admiring your narcissistic self in one of your mirrors!"

_Finally,_ he stops pounding on the door, but his voice is unbalanced. "But Courtney, I wanna make sure you're all right! I can't leave you here when you're…like this! In your condition you need someone to talk to!" He's pleading.

"Just **GO!**" I shriek, getting up from my bed as waterfalls continue to roll down my face. Why can't he get it through his thick skull that I want to cry in solitude? I head over to the door and thrust it open, seeing his blue eyes shocked at the sight of me. It shouldn't be a surprise to see my red eyes, disheveled hair, and tear stains on my shirts.

"If you want to help me 'in my condition,' then move your Playboy body out this hallway and _**GO AWAY!**_"

"But—"

I slam the door into his bewildered face. Find some other heart-broken girl to comfort, _I _didn't volunteer. I hear him sigh heavily and mutter "Ok, then," and walk away. I don't need him—I don't need anyone to make me feel better! I can do this by myself, and I have since the end of World Tour. I don't need anyone's pity.

Yelling at Justin really pumped up my heart, and I just feel like—like—

I glance at the blue desk lamp that's sitting on the dresser near the door, pick it up, and throw it full force against the bathroom door. It shatters into myriads of pieces into a pile on the floor. Without warning, my body convulses and I sob, tears coming back. I run to the bed and pick up another desk lamp, throwing it at the front door as it breaks loudly.

"TAKE THAT YOU JERK-OFF!" I screech. And then I start laughing-laughing because it feels so good to tell that cheater off out loud. I grab the damp pillow that absorbed my tears from the bed and start hitting it against the wall repeatedly, imagining his face, all the while crying and laughing hysterically—because it's so funny! I'm hitting him in the head with a pillow! HA-HA!

"Take that you—ha!—ungrateful piece of cow manure—ha! That witch is _nothing_ like me! You'll never find a better girlfriend! And when you come crawling back to me—ha!—I'll kick your ass and won't accept! And I hope she cheats on you, you two-timing, **LOWLIFE!**" I drop the pillow from my hands, panting heavily, exhausted from the cheater-bashing. I slump to the floor and curl into a ball, my laughing ceasing and turning into low sobs. I've finished crying but my mouth keeps gasping.

When I saw him kiss that goth witch in the pool, it just reminded me of when he used to do that with _me_. He would grab me by the waist and I would shiver, even though I tried to hide the effects he put on me because I'm not one to show my emotions—those emotions, anyway. I just couldn't hold my feelings in anymore when I saw it. And I thought Gwen and I were friends…or getting to be friends. How could she backstab me like that? And then gloat around in my face by making out with him all over the boat? And then that stupid fight with Trent earlier didn't help my mood either when I came in the pool and saw Gwen and the douchebag. After Trent tried to defend Justin, our whole fight transitioned to 'I was just trying to help' and 'I really don't care,' and then I left. He came back to apologize later, as he should because he had no reason to butt into my and Justin's conversation. He's forgiven, but Trent irks me to no end, always trying to be the nice guy—I bet it's just a façade. Both he and Justin rub me the wrong way, and I don't need their empathy.

My body stops trembling on the floor and my breathing calms down. I'm just left numb, empty, and desolate. My thoughts revert back to the lone question I've been asking myself for the past few months:

Why did he cheat on me?

My throat tightens up. I didn't deserve it—I _don't_ deserve this! What did I do to make him hate me so much? Did he really, really loathe me so much that he had to cheat on me? Sure, after TDA we made up and broke up after petty little fights, but that's how we always work—it's in our nature. That's normal for couples. And I was trying to make him happier during the summer too! Establishing a bond with his parents, or more so his dad, would start to make his outlook on life a bit more pleasant—he would've had a support system who actually _liked_ him and could lean on to if he needed it. But he didn't want to have better relationship with them when I suggested it.

And we spent the night at each other's houses sometimes. I think his parents liked me because I kept him in line—they were grateful to have their son's girlfriend be so mature, something I know they've never experienced in their entire lives.

And then we had that _huge_ fight right before World Tour. The biggest one we've ever had. But we worked it out! He was fine, I was fine, after a couple of days passed by. He was so detached when he came on World Tour, I was thinking the worst—but apparently a nightmare called 'Boyfriend Kisser' replaced any fears I imagined. I think I'll dump a bowl of food in her face next as payback.

Another loud knock on my door snaps me out of my thoughts of strangling Gwen's neck. I'm so tired that my words come out exasperated. "Justin, I don't wanna talk."

I cringe when I hear an annoying, squeaky, fast paced voice—Sierra.

"Oh I'm not Justin! It's Sierra!"

"I _know._"

"I heard you wailing your guts out and crying like you were a little baby cow that was getting slaughtered so—"

"Your _point?_"

"Girl to girl, you need to get over Duncan—" My heart skips a beat at hearing his name "—and hang out with me! I'll make you forget about that no-good idiot who trampled on your heart and hooked up with Gwen!"

I sigh. Do I really want her help? "I appreciate your offer," I say flatly, "but—"

Sierra round house kicks my door down, smiling at me widely—creepily. I don't like feeling vulnerable when she's giving me that look—who knows what she could do to me when I'm in this state?

I haven't really seen her since this afternoon in the ballroom, but I forgot she's pretty much bald and has a red hat on. She steps over the lamp pieces as she enters the room, picking me up on my feet and sitting me down on the bed while she sits next to me. She then hugs me so tight that I feel like I'm choking.

"I won't take no for an answer!" She happily says, shaking me in the hug. I just frown. "I'm gonna make you have the best time of your life on this boat! We're gonna be best friends, I just know it! Oh my gosh," she suddenly says, and I'm able to breathe again, thanks _goodness_. "I have to make sure Cody took his pill! He can't swallow water by himself!"

I narrow my eyes at her. "You're going to interrupt him at the party to give him his _pill?_ I think he can take it himself."

Sierra's ears perk up at the word 'party.' "What party?" she demands. She looks really intense as she releases her hold on me and stands up. The color of her eyes matches her red hat.

"Um, the pool party," I say matter-of-factly. "Everyone's practically there and it's still going on."

Sierra gasps. "He must've snuck out my room when I was sleeping! Bad, Cody! This boat is too big for him to travel alone!" I'd be lying if I said Sierra looked terrified—she looks like a scared cat that got stuck on a railroad track and heard the train approaching.

"You might as well put a micro-chip into his neck to keep track of him if you worry so much," I sneer.

"I already did, but it's in his shoe," she says, hyperventilating between her words. "He never stands still enough for me to put one in his neck. When I saw he wasn't in the room, I just figured he was sleepwalking like always and would come back! Cooooooodyyyyyyyyy! You need to take your medicine!" She dashes into the hallway and out of sight.

I breathe a sigh of relief. She's gone! I look around my room and see the lamp shards near the bathroom door and the front door. Room service should clean up this mess! And get me another door!

I pick up the phone that's near my bed and call room service. And…maybe I will take up Sierra on her offer. She's annoying like Justin but there's no risk of her flirting with me, and she's irksome like Trent but not mopey in the slightest. And I don't really have any friends so it'll have to do for now.

**Gwen's P.O.V.**

I'm eating at the breakfast bar in the lobby at freakin' 8 in the morning with Duncan, Geoff, Bridgette, and DJ. It was DJ's dumb idea to wake up this early to search for clues so we could get a head start. Seriously, I might just bite off DJ's head if he says one more time how 'great of a morning' it is—because it's not that great! But the yummy waffles kinda make my mood better, so I don't say anything. Bridgette and Geoff aren't making out right now—I guess it's too early for that too.

One of the cooks hands me my orange juice. "Thank," I mutter. He gives a tired smile and heads back in the kitchen.

I look to my left to see Duncan eating his pancakes like he's dead, and he already has bags under his eyes. After we left the party we stayed up late watching Texas Chainsaw Massacre in his room. I fell asleep through the middle of it but he obviously stayed awake. Geoff and Bridgette look dead tired too, barely touching their toast and eggs, but DJ's happily munching his French toast.

Duncan yawns. "So when is Elvis coming? If he flakes out it's not gonna be pretty—I didn't wake up to be stood up."

"I told him to come at 8:30," I say, stretching my arms and yawning too. "We'd be done eating by then." But I don't know at this rate.

Bridgette takes a bite of her toast. "Hey, once we get our clues, or try finding them for the day, we should go on the surf simulator that's on the main deck! We have this whole boat to ourselves and aren't doing anything fun!"

"Uh, Bridge, hello, pool party yesterday?" says Geoff a little annoyed. "That wasn't fun to you?" Ugh, it's too early for this. I bang my head on the counter.

Bridgette changes her tune quick. "No, no, that was fun! We just need to do something different every day."

"Uh huh," is all Geoff says. Bridgette rolls her eyes but doesn't say anything.

DJ speaks up. "Hey, I think I see Trent! Yo, Trent, what's up?"

My heart thumps twice at hearing Trent's name. I know he's coming from behind but I don't wanna turn around! Why'd I invite him? I just said the stupidest thing that came out my head yesterday. I mean I wanna see him but he's been acting weird.

I spin around in my chair and this time give Trent a big smile and wave excitedly. I'm just doing it so he's not uncomfortable, cuz I'm really not in a happy mood. I wanna sleep in a hole forever—but then I'd get claustrophobic—scratch that, I just wanna sleep in my bed.

"Nothin' much," Trent replies to DJ's greeting as he joins us. His face lights up when he looks at me and I feel a little bit better. Maybe we could be like how we were again. "What's up with you guys?" Everyone mumbles something undistinguishable.

"'Bout time you showed up," Duncan says rudely. I know he's just tired.

"We're all done eating breakfast for the most part," I tell Trent, "so ready to search for clues?"

"I hope there's a paw print on our next clue…you know, 'Blue's Clue's,'" he says jokingly. Ok…wow.

Duncan and Geoff snort while DJ exclaims "That show was my childhood!"

I shake my head and focus my gaze on Trent. "Ignoring that, do you wanna search for our clues together? We have the same one so it'd be probably be in the same place."

Trent smiles. "Sure." He turns to Duncan, Geoff, DJ, and Bridgette. "We'll meet up later?"

"Yeah, right at this bar, dude," says Geoff. He puts a fist in the air. "Woohoo, let's get this started!" He walks into the lobby with DJ and Bridgette behind. Duncan waves to me. "See ya, babe." I smile. "Right back at ya," I tell him, but then I notice the knuckles on his hands again. I didn't pressure him to tell me the truth, but did he really think I bought his story of hitting the game machine? But I should trust him—if it was nothing, it was nothing. But if was nothing, why can't he just say that?

I feel someone tapping on my shoulder. Oh, it's Trent. "You ready?" He's probably said that at least 3 times since I wasn't paying attention. Duncan, Geoff, DJ, and Bridgette have already disappeared.

"Yeah." We walk in the opposite direction into another hallway.

**Trent's P.O.V.**

We've honestly just been walking and walking down so many hallways and up three flights of stairs that I'm about to give up. During our walk, though, Gwen's been really…chatty. And she's usually not. I don't know what's up. I don't even know why she invited me since I was acting so cold to her at the party. Knowing that she's Duncan's and not mine really bums me out. And I wanna spend time with her and be friends again, but it's hard when another guy sweeps your girl off your feet. But I'm gonna put on a happy face—for Gwen.

We decide to take a break from searching and sit at the second floor lobby. This lobby looks different from the main one—the floor of this one is burgundy, the couches are leather and gray, and the furniture is arranged in a circle.

Gwen's sitting across from me in a chair and speaks up. "I'm glad you came."

I guess I look startled because she giggles—I actually made her laugh! I miss her laugh.

"Really, why?"

"I wasn't sure if you would because…" she trails off and looks at the floor. I gulp.

"It's just…hard, you know?" I start. "Everything's—"

"Different?"

"Yeah." I'm paralyzed as her eyes meet mine—they're filled with regret and look somber.

"I know," she says hesitantly, "but I still wanna be friends. Not like the people who say they're friends and never talk—I wanna hang out with you."

Why is she making this hard? "Gwen, I don't think I can." She's gonna hate me now. It's a good thing our chairs are 40 feet apart from each other so I can run if she attacks me.

Her face looks confused. "Wh-what?"

I'm dreading what I'm about to say, and the pit of my stomach curls into a ball. "Gwen, I'm insanely jealous of Duncan—because he has you now. And I still like you; I've never gotten over you. I don't think I can just be friends." I'm clutching the arm of the leather chair—like that's gonna make me feel better.

She doesn't say anything for a good 30 seconds until "So you don't wanna…try? At all?" She sounds desperate and looks like she's about to cry. I can't live with myself if I see her cry, and knowing I'm the one that caused it—I couldn't.

"I—"

Out of nowhere, Izzy's loud voice comes from a hallway to our left. "Yellow fish, orange fish, purple fish, blue! 1 fish, red fish, 2 fish, blue fish! Oh my gosh, it's like the same rhyme!"

"Ok Dr. Seuss, I'm sure that's _not_ how it goes," drones Noah. They're coming close by, and then the two of them plus Owen come to our spot.

Owen runs up to us and plops down on one of the long couches. "Hey, have you two found any clues yet? We've been looking all over for ours, but—" he lowers his voice, "—Izzy's been rhyming the whole time. And I don't think Noah likes it."

I get a light bulb moment. "Not yet, but why was she talking about fish?"

Izzy jumps on top of Owen who yelps. "There were some cute pictures of fishies in that back hallway right there, uh huh, and they reminded me of the time I was at my uncle's lake and there were SO MANY FISIHIES swimming away from me that I just wanted to grab them and bite them and—"

"Ok thanks Izzy, we got it," Gwen interrupts. She gets out her chair and walks briskly to the back hallway and I follow her, knowing she's headed to get our clue.

We get to the hallway with the fish paintings and check the ones that have our colored fish. I go to the one that has the yellow, orange, and blue fish. I take the painting off the wall and see the clue card on the back of it, picking it up—it only says "AMENIC" in bold. What could that mean? At least I have my stupid 3rd clue—that's more than most people could say.

I put it in my pocket and turn to Gwen, whose eyes are brimming with tears—crap, man!

Her face is focused on the painting as she puts it back on the wall, and clutches her card so tightly in her left hand that it's pretty much wrinkled. She won't even look at me.

I take a step towards her and my left hand is itching to grab hers, but it doesn't move. I can't. I don't wanna hurt her anymore.

"Gwen," I choke out, "I'm sorry, but I really can't—it's too hard for me to—to be—"

"It's fine," she says in barely a whisper, biting her lip. She always did that when she was about to break down. Why am I doing this to her? I can't stand to see her like this—I can't!

I scratch my head, sighing heavily. "We can't be friends if I still like you. And I can't try when I'm like this. It's not fair to you and—"

"I get it," she says lifelessly. "I thought we could…never mind, just stop talking, ok?"

I wanna say more to her, say that I miss her and wish I was on World Tour so we could've been back together again. Say to her that I've written so many songs about her and cried through every one of them. Say to her how much it hurt me that she never texted or called me back when I left dozens of messages, asking where we went wrong that she turned to Duncan of all people. But before I can say all of that, she walks past me and takes the 2nd floor elevator to the breakfast bar.

And when the elevator doors close, I wanted to say one more thing—that I've changed my mind and wanna try being friends again. Because even though I can't have her, I don't wanna lose her all together. And now it looks like I screwed that up too.

**Justin's P.O.V.**

Wow this spa is great! This guy's hands are like magic on my back! He can knead out all those muscle cramps I've had for so long. I'm so firing the spa team at home—they don't even compare!

Also in the spa room are Lindsay, Beth, Heather, and Alejandro, who are getting massages too. Well, Alejandro's getting his armor waxed. It's a good thing he's a robot now because everyone would swoon over him instead of me! I'm supposed to be the hot one! If I practice a Spanish accent long enough, I'll get my mojo back. I could ask Courtney to help me, she would know a lot of languages—and she's Latina! It's a double win!

"Go slower!" Heather barks to the right of me. I can't see her but I can picture her face scrunched up like she ate a Sour Patch Kid.

"This is such a relaxing spa!" Lindsay dreamily says to the left of me.

"I've never been pampered so much in my life," Beth sleepily replies.

"Or ever," mutters Heather.

"You'll look great when you're done, Beth!" I shout. I need to rack up all my nice points about her so karma doesn't hit me again.

And speaking of karma, yesterday was a bad day. I tried to comfort Courtney when I saw her run out the pool like that, but she wouldn't hear it. I don't know why she was crying, but as her future boyfriend I had to do _something._ And when she opened the door she looked a mess! I just wanted to hold her and have her cry on me, but she called me a Playboy and slammed the door in my face. Normally I would take that as a compliment, but it didn't sound like one then. I wanted to do something that would make her happy, so I got an idea.

"Hey Heather," I say. "Does this sound good for a poem? 'Don't be sad, I want you to be glad, when you get mad, I—'"

"That—is—TORTURE," Heather groans. "_Why_ would you even think that's good?"

"I'm trying!" I whine. "I don't know what girls like."

"You're trying to impress a girl? How about getting her a teddy bear or candy like a normal person!"

"Well this is an apology poem, so it needs to come from the heart…"

"Who's it for?"

"Courtney."

She gives a 'ha.' "Have fun."

"You're not gonna help me?"

"No. Why would I? I could care less about your love life."

I sigh. "Fine." I snap my fingers to tell the massager to stop. I get up from my bed and stretch.

"See you ladies later, I have to give the most beautiful girl on the boat a poem."

**Courtney's P.O.V.**

I'm sitting at a desk in the corner of the library reading Crime and Punishment again when I see Justin—_Justin_—coming towards me. How did he find the library? I thought this was my private sanctuary. Now I need a new hiding spot.

He sits in the desk to the left of me and flashes a smile—his teeth are whiter now. He must have seen they were getting dull. I hate to admit it, but I feel guilty—only slightly—that I was a bit rude to him yesterday. But I just wanted to be left alone and he wasn't budging! He needs to know I have a set of personal boundaries that can't be violated.

"How did you find me—or the library?" I ask.

He combs his fingers through his hair. Is he trying to seduce me? Why am I the target of his advances? I don't like him like that, or as a _person!_ He's a complete airhead!

"Geoff told me," he answers, leaning closer to me and I back away. "I figured you'd be in the library because you're so well-rounded. And did you know DJ's hanging on top of a chandelier right now? His clue said 'Rhymes with Ocean Pier!' It's so funny where they put these clues."

"Did you finally find yours?" I might as well make pleasant conversation since he obviously won't leave.

"Yeah, thanks for your help! It was in a supply closet on the third floor, next to the duct-tape. Oh." He pulls out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. "I felt bad about what happened yesterday, so I wrote this to cheer you up."

"You—"

"'Roses are red, violets are blue, if there was a new facial mask, I'd name it after you. Please smile, at least for a while, because when you're hurt, I wanna rip off my shirt—in anger. Don't you cry, because I'll be your guy, to hold you when you're down, so don't you frown! So cheer up, because you're sad, and looking at you, makes me sadder.' Done!" He throws out his arms. "So how'd you like it? Good, right?" He's practically beaming, and I can't believe he just read that childish poem to me—and that last part didn't even rhyme!

He pushes it into my hands and stands up. "I have to go, Lindsay's teaching me how to gain muscles in my gluteus maximus. Let's have dinner tomorrow? Ciao!" He runs out the library doors and I look at the crumpled up poem in my hands. Just how desperate is he?

Since the place is no longer a Justin free-zone, I make my way to the ballroom to play the piano, stuffing his poem in my pocket. He irks me to no end! Playing some Mozart or Beethoven will calm me down.

The ballroom is completely dark when I enter, but I hear notes from a guitar carrying softly in the air. I flick on the light switch near the door and blink a couple of times to let my eyes adjust to the brightness. There's Trent, sitting on the edge of the stage in the back, playing depressingly like the hopeless loser he is. He glances at me but keeps strumming as I walk up to him.

"You're utterly pathetic," I say as I hoist myself on stage, looming over him while he sits. "Moping around and playing in complete darkness. What's wrong with you?"

He stops playing and looks at me—his swollen red eyes evaporate the frown on my face.

"I was alone in here for a reason," he mocks to me, trying to joke, but his voice falters.

I don't know why I'm doing this, but I sit at the piano that's behind Trent and sigh, positioning my hands on the piano keys. "What song do you wanna play?"

"What?" I know that's not what he was expecting to hear, and I wasn't expecting to say it either. He now faces me.

I roll my eyes. "You heard me, what song do you wanna play?"

"Uh…"

"Do you know Canon in D?" I say, annoyed.

"Yeah, everyone knows that."

"Ok, you start with the beginning harmony and melody and I'll follow. You know how to improvise, right?"

He smirks. "I play guitar, it's kinda in my nature."

I smirk back. "Good." I nod to his guitar. "Now start."

He stands up and goes behind the stage curtain to come back with a chair, which he sits in to the right of me. In place, he begins to guide his fingers along the instrument and mellow, soft notes float along the air. I now join in with the bass clef on the piano, enjoying the simple melody mixed with his guitar.

We play in perfect complacency.

**A/N I hope you guys liked this chapter! Shout out to xLinkk and MorganTaylorM3 for awesome reviews :D And of course everyone else who reviewed, thank you so much! And Mixmaster226 you really crack me up about Gwen haha. All I can say is keep reading and see? :P**

**The song Courtney and Trent played is on my profile so you can get a feel of what it sounds like as a duet with a guitar- it took me FOREVER to find b/c I couldn't picture it in my head. Luckily someone else thought of playing guitar/piano with that song and posted it on YouTube hehehe.**

**I also don't own Blues Clues and Dr. Seuss's rhymes, obviously-pretty much self-explanatory but I felt like I had to write that for some reason -_- i mean those things should be obvious, right?**

**Review if you like and see you next time! :D**


	7. Chapter 6 Part 1

**Duncan's P.O.V.**

I watch one of the rock climbing guy's hook on the belt and all that other safety crap onto Gwen's waist as she nervously smiles. That stuff better hold her in or Mr. Touchy-Feely over here is gonna be missing some teeth. I'm not havin' nightmares of Gwen falling to her death cuz some idiot didn't strap her in right. He better sleep with 2 eyes open if he likes his nose.

_Finally_, the guy fastens Gwen in and moves back a little, holding the rope that connects to her belt. I'm using the auto-belay instead, where no one has to hold me. But I didn't want Gwen to use it too and get into some kind of accident, so she said she would have a safety person hold her rope instead.

I cross my arms over my chest. "Now that a year has passed can we climb?"

The stupid guy nods and gives me a thumbs up. I turn my back to him and start climbing. This easy side is _way_ too easy!

"Hey!" Gwen shouts, laughing. "We're supposed to be racing? You didn't even say 'Go!'"

"Oops, my bad," I say, still climbing. "Go."

"You're so going down, you know that right?" She tries to catch up to me but I'm way ahead of her—I'm like a freakin' spider-monkey! I'm already at the top of the wall and hit the red 'You Win' button. A loud alarm blares through the wall and I yell, releasing my hands from the rocks and bouncing off the wall as I go down. I crash butt first on the ground—HARD.

"Stupid alarm!" I yell, getting up and rubbing my butt. If I was with Courtney she'd freak I was doing this in public—probably say something like 'you're a step away from public indecency' with that wordy mouth of hers. Gwen just points at me and laughs—the _normal_ reaction.

"Ha! That's what you get for getting a head start!" She gets to the top and slams her hand on the red button, setting off that damn alarm again and making me jump. She glides down with the help of the rock climbing guy and unfastens her belt. I thought we were racing again but I take mine off too.

"What gives?" I ask, throwing the belt on the floor. "Think I'll win again?"

She comes up to me and lightly kicks my leg, grinning. "More like think you'll cheat again?" Her stomach growls and she holds it. "I'm starving—let's get lunch and then come back."

"Fine by me," I say, and we head over to the dining room. Luckily we're on the first floor so we don't have long to go.

We grab some turkey and cheese hoagies from the cooks when we get there and sit in the middle of the room. The only other person in here is Eva who's chomping on her food like a shark.

I stuff half my hoagie in my mouth and gulp while Gwen eats slow—like _really _slow—it's something I've gotten used to by now.

"So," I say with my mouthful, "How'd clue searching go with Elvis? I forgot to ask yesterday."

She starts to chew her food even slower and looks at her tray. What's up with her? "Uh, Gwen?"

She's still looking at her tray when she speaks and her voice comes out strained. "It went fine."

I raise my eyebrows. "Sure, if you think fine means hypnotizing your tray to death. What happened?"

Gwen now looks at me with a sad face. "I got my 2nd clue," she starts slowly, "and...I told Trent I wanted to be friends be he said he couldn't." That last part sounded bitter.

I lean back in my chair and put both arms behind my head, resting my feet on the edge of the table. "You can't be friends with him," I say matter-of-factly. "Exes can't be friends." And it's true—me and Princess _definitely_ aren't friends.

Gwen looks at me like I'm crazy. "Why do you say that? It happens with a lot of people!"

I shrug. "Yeah, and then one of them gets feelings for the other person. So much for 'friends,'" I air quote. "You're exes for a reason—you're the one that dumped _him_ remember?"

She cringes at 'dumped' and I just focus on her face. She's staring back at the tray angrily. I know talking about Trent is a touchy subject—we never talk about him and why should we? Gwen's with me now. And like hell we're gonna talk about Courtney.

"But I thought we could be different," she says frustratingly.

I sigh. "Look, it's no secret Trent still likes you and that's why he doesn't wanna be just friends. Just respect the man and leave him alone. If you wanna still try and be friends then try—I ain't stopping you. Won't work though." I have nothing to worry about Gwen liking Trent again—she chose me over him, that's all the proof I need. I'm not controlling like Courtney—I'm not gonna tell Gwen who she can and can't talk to.

Gwen picks up her hoagie and starts eating it again. "I guess you're right," she sighs. "I'll just leave him alone. So," her face brightens up, "Did _you_ find your second clue?"

I take my feet off the table and put my chair back on the ground. "Nope—could care less. DJ found his on the lobby chandelier, though! He was screaming like a baby when he couldn't get down."

Gwen laughs and then cocks her head to the right. "I thought you wanted another million dollars? Changed your mind?"

"I just don't have the energy—I'll threaten Harold to do it."

"You're always picking on Harold," she says coyly.

"And I think you've been hanging with Leshawna too much," I throw back at her. Since when does she care I bully Harold? Then I get a light bulb moment.

"I know something we could do!" I say excitedly. "Let's prank Harold—it'll be _so _awesome! He won't even see it coming!"

Gwen shakes her head—of course. "Leshawna, remember? I'm not getting my butt kicked from her—you can, though."

"Fine," I say hotly. Then I get another idea. "But what about Heather? You can't say no to that!" I stare at Gwen who's smiling back—she has to say yes!

"Deal!" We shake on it.

"All right, we'll prank Heather first, and then watch as I pull off the ultimate prank on Harold," I say grinning, rubbing my hands together.

Gwen's got that glint in her eye that I like. "Heather _deserves_ this, after all the stuff she's put everyone through! So what's the plan?"

I lean closer to Gwen. "Well…"

* * *

Me and Gwen sneak around the 2nd floor holding our bucket of supplies, her holding 2 buckets in the back and me holding 1 bucket while leading her. I can't wait to see the look on Heather's face when we get her—I'm already lovin' it!

I stop in front of room 15 and shush Gwen, dropping my bucket and putting my ear to the door. "This is her room, right?" I whisper. Gwen nods. I listen harder to the door and hear water running. She's in the shower—even better.

I take out the safety pin from my pocket and put it into the keyhole, wiggling it carefully. In 3 seconds the door clicks. I put the pin back in my pocket and pick up my bucket, turning around to smirk at Gwen—she looks really surprised.

"I'm not gonna ask where you learned that since I can guess, but how'd you do it so fast?"

I smirk wider. "Years of practice—I'll teach it to you after we do this. Ready to freak out Miss Queen Bee?"

"Heck, YES!"

Turning back around, I open the door quietly with Gwen following behind. I cringe once I hear Heather's voice from the shower. She's singing that stupid love story song by Taylor whatever and sounds like a dying horse. Even if Heather wasn't Heather, I'd still prank her right now just to save my freakin' ears from bleeding.

We reach the bathroom door and grin at each other. Gwen slowly opens it and we go in the steamy room. It's hot in here, but Heather's loud signing must've covered the noise of us placing the buckets on the floor, 'cuz she isn't screaming—yet.

"ALEJANDRO, TAKE ME SOMEWHERE WE CAN BE ALONE—"

Wow, Heather must be falling head-over-heels for Ale-robo. I pick up one of the buckets Gwen brought in and move closer to the shower—

"I'LL BE WAITING ALL THERE'S LEFT TO DO IS RUN—"

And now I'm standing on top of the toilet near the shower, lifting the bucket in the air—

"YOU'LL BE THE PRINCE AND I'LL BE THE PRINCESS—"

It's near the railing of the shower now—

"IT'S A LOVE STORY, BABY JUST SAAAAAAAAAYYYYY, YES!"

"YOU SAID YES!" I yell, and dump a bucket full of ice—ALL—OVER—HEATHER.

I hop off the toilet as she screeches "AAAAAHH! WHO DID THIS? WHO THE _**HELL **_DID THIS? IS THAT YOU LINDSAY? IF—"

Gwen picks up the 12 inch green snake from the second bucket, pushing back the shower curtain and throwing it in the tub. Heather's ear-piercing scream is like music to my ears as she pushes back the curtain to grab her towel—which Gwen conveniently took.

I'm howling at Heather's angry, red face as she hops out the shower, the snake wrapping itself around her ankle. She gasps at me and Gwen and covers her boobs with her hands as she tries to shake off the snake. Her eyes look like they can slice me, but hey, I say bring on the challenge.

"**YOU!**" She points threateningly at me, her breathing shallow and her voice deadly. "I WILL _**KILL**_ YOU AND YOUR FREAKY GOTH GIRLFRIEND! GIVE ME MY TOWEL!"

Gwen smirks. "Come and get it, then."

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Heather lunges at Gwen, uncovering her boobs. I take out the final weapon from the last bucket—a paintball gun—and fire it at Heather, laughing like a psycho cuz that's really what I am right now. She stops in her tracks as yellow paint hits her nose, blue splatters her stomach, while red, orange, green and purple attack her hair, legs, arms, and face as she yells "OW!" for every single shot.

I run out of ammo in a minute and throw the gun on the floor. Me and Gwen are roaring at the clown in front of us as Heather's wailing and still trying to shake off the snake on her ankle.

"Hope you like payback," I sneer, still laughing. Me and Gwen walk out the bathroom and out the cabin as Heather shrieks "YOU WILL PAY! YOU ARE _**SO**_ GONNA PAY, JUST COUNT ON IT! UGGGHH! GET _**OFF**_ ME!" We just laugh and continue to walk back to the first floor.

"That—was—AWESOME!" Gwen squeals, high-fiving me.

"I know! Did you see her face when she saw her towel was gone? Priceless!"

"Or when she thought we were Lindsay?" Gwen adds, still laughing. "This totally beats my ant farm prank."

"Stick with me and you'll learn something," I joke, ruffling her hair. "Hey, I'm gonna prank Harold now, so I'll meet you back at rock climbing?"

Gwen nods, smiling. "Definitely—I'll just grab a snack. Text me when you're done. Don't have too much fun." She walks away, waving behind her.

I walk to find Harold with the perfect prank in mind.

**Courtney's P.O.V.**

I really don't wanna be here eating lunch with Sierra and Cody, but here I am, munching on my hamburger in the dining room. Sierra practically dragged me out my room insisting we get to know each other better, and I grudgingly accepted. Sadly, I have nothing else to do and no one else to hang out with, and whenever I need Bridgette she's always making out with Geoff! There's more to this world than swapping spit with a boy! I guess our friendship isn't really that strong, but then I never considered her a best friend or anything. We talked a few times on TDI and it seemed like we could be good friends, but her being absent on TDA and most of World Tour altered that I guess. And since I had no one to talk to the first day I just attached myself to her again—it was better than Sierra.

Sierra finishes sipping her lemonade. "So how are you feeling?" She says giddily to me. "Any better?"

I sigh wearily. "I'm fine," I say, trying to brush her off. I really don't want to re-live yesterday—she saw me weak and disoriented, and no one was supposed to see that. _No one._

"Are you sure?" She presses. "Because I'm here to talk, and Cody is too! Right, Cody?"

Cody gives a toothy smile. "Yep, always here to help! I'm great at psycho-analyzing people!"

"Who said I need to be psycho-analyzed?" I burst out, gripping my napkin in my right hand, envisioning that it's Cody's head. He knows nothing about me and won't _learn_ anything about me either!

Cody stares at my crunched napkin and gulps. "I-I meant—"

"I don't care what you thought you meant!" I yell, and Sierra interrupts my rampage.

"Cody, Courtney! We're all friends here, no need to fight," she laughs nervously, but then she glares at me. "Cool it," she says through clenched teeth. Sierra doesn't scare me, but I have to remember that she's really hard-headed when it comes to Cody, and I consider her to be the 3rd strongest girl here—after me and Eva of course. She could easily turn into one of my enemies if I make the wrong move, and I can't risk that, so I mutter a 'sorry' to a quivering Cody who replies with a shaky voice "It's ok, Courtney."

Sierra clasps her hands, her face back to beaming. "Well, now that that's settled, what do you guys wanna do after lunch? There's a rock wall, a movie theatre—"

"You didn't say anything about _after_ lunch when you invited me," I say suspiciously. What is she thinking? Is she really that delusional to think I wanna spend more time with her than necessary? I won't do it! This 'outing' is already bad enough!

"It's not like you have anything to do," Sierra shoots back. "I'm trying to help you not think of Duncan—" I cringe—"and that's what I'm gonna do!" She jabs her left index finger in my shoulder. "So suck it up!"

I forgot I'm willingly subjecting myself to Sierra's presence so I can forget about…_him._ And so far it's working because the only thing stuck in my head is Sierra's overly happy voice—that'll take weeks to get out, at the most.

"Ok," I start, "If we're doing something _I'm_ choosing the activity. Why don't we—"

Trent dashes into the dining room out of breath, his face completely petrified. What's wrong with him _now?_

"Katie—" he gasps, his eyes darting around the room, "Sadie—chasing—smelling hair—"

"Dude, hide under here!" Cody motions underneath our table and in an instant Trent crawls between my chair and Sierra's, hiding underneath the long tablecloth. He is such a coward—can't he tell 2 girls to back off?

As soon as Trent gets under the table, Katie and Sadie rush into the room, their eyes searching everywhere.

"Have you guys seen Trent anywhere?" Katie asks quickly.

"We just wanted to talk to him and he ran away!" Sadie whines.

"Is he here?"

"Is he hiding?"

"Do you think he jumped off the boat?"

"Oh my gosh, do you think we killed him?"

"I couldn't live with myself if we did!"

"Me either! Nooo!"

"Nooo!"

I clear my throat loudly. "I think I did see him jump off the boat—you better hurry."

Katie and Sadie gasp and yell "TREEEEEEEEENT!" as they run out the room.

Trent crawls from the table opposite of me and sits down in the chair next to Cody, wiping his forehead. "Thanks you guys," he says breathlessly. "Seriously, they were all over me! I think I know how Justin feels now."

Cody smirks. "I think you mean Alejandro." He sniffs Trent's hair. "Did you spray yourself with Axe?"

Trent looks like he's going to strangle Cody. "No, they're just crazy! I don't know why they're so into me all of a sudden." I wonder why too, because Trent's like a black cloud—it's sickening!

Sierra chimes in. "Ooh, I remember—from the 1st Aftermath on TDA! How could you not remember because it was the very first one? Bridgette and Geoff were arguing about Team Trent and Team Gwen, and Trent was on the couch and said 9 was his lucky number, so then Katie was like 'I am so on Team Trent' and Sadie was like 'Me too' and then they hugged, and then Bridgette said 'Snowgirl writes: Trent, what kind of girl are you into?' and Trent was all sad like 'It was a girl like Gwen, guess I'm gonna have to find a new type,' so Katie was like 'Oh, me Trent' and Sadie was like 'No, me Trent' and there you have it! Really, who doesn't remember that?"

Apparently, everyone else at this table because I'm staring at the stalker of all Total Drama stalkers with my mouth open along with Cody and Trent. Trent scratches his head. "Oh, right," he says sheepishly.

I eat the remaining piece of my hamburger. "You really need to put them in your place," I tell Trent. "They're a danger to everyone and themselves!"

"I tried being nice—"

"_Nice _doesn't get you what you want!" I slam my right hand on the table. "You have to be assertive, confident—"

I stop in mid-sentence as I hear a voice I've grown to hate come in—Justin's.

"Hey! You made it to our dinner date," he says way too happy for my taste. I turn around in my chair to see him grab a hotdog and joins our table, sitting next to Trent and smiling at me. "I eat dinner really early too."

"This is _not _a date," I rudely say, crossing my arms over my chest. "And I never agreed to eat with you!" I am so calling my lawyers to get a restraining order against him!

"I never said it was an actual date, Courtney," Justin says, winking. Ugh, I just wanna rip out all the hair out of his skull—he's such an annoying flirt! "But I will be asking you one later in the future. I have to build up the perfect moment, get the perfect breath mint—"

Trent, thank goodness, cuts him off. "Hey Harold!" he yells, waving to him. Harold, who just walked in, waves back. "Come and join us!" Trent turns back to me and nods, smiling proudly. This was his idea of stopping Justin? That's only gonna last 3 seconds!

While thankfully Justin has the memory span of a goldfish, he starts talking to Cody and Sierra about our clue challenge. Trent gets up to grab food with Harold and out the corner of my eye I see…I see…that douchebag lurking outside the dining hall, watching Harold through the glass walls. My body freezes at the sight of him, and I'm torn whether to punch him in the face or vomit after thinking about him kissing Gwen.

I can't help but watch what he's doing, since I'm curious. He's holding a basketball in his hands with that stupid smirk on his face, staring at Harold who's putting food on a tray in the middle of the room.

The cheater steps into the room, moving closer and closer to the oblivious geek since his back is facing the rest of us and is talking to Trent about some type of Japanese car. Cody sees what I'm looking at and stops talking to Sierra and Justin, his eyes getting wide. Sierra and Justin don't even realize Cody left their conversation.

The bastard then throws the ball at Harold's butt, who drops his tray of mashed potatoes on the floor and holds his butt yelling hoarsely "For the love on Confucius!" Everyone is now looking at Harold and is now aware of the cheater, as he's holding his stomach, howling like a wolf.

"This is too much—too much!" The jerk laughs, falling to the floor. Harold glowers at the cheater, balling his hands into fists.

"I'll have you know this is the lamest prank you've ever pulled," Harold says, and he's right—this is pathetic.

Sierra stands up from her chair, angry. I cringe on instinct because I know she's gonna say his name. "Duncan! How can you pick on poor Harold? I'll have Leshawna know what you did, you cheater!" I hate to admit it, but Sierra really is looking out for me—but she's still annoying.

The cheater stands up, still laughing. "Yeah, cuz getting a girl to fight his battles is sooo tough."

I look at Trent who's staring at Harold's butt—there are so many things wrong with that picture.

"Dude," Trent says, backing up from Harold and pointing at his butt. "You just crapped yourself!"

"That's disgusting, man," Justin comments, as we all now see the brown mark on Harold's pants—EW! "Have you been eating a lot of beans? Or hanging with Owen too much?"

"But— but—I didn't poop myself!" Harold insists, trying to cover his butt again. The cheater laughs even harder.

"It's chocolate!" he says, wiping tears from his eyes. "I just snuck a bag of chocolate in your back pockets and you didn't even feel it! Oh man this is classic! Later geekwad!" The cheater runs out the room with Harold right behind him yelling "I'll get you back!"

Trent makes his way back to the table with his food, his eyes wide. "I don't know, that looked pretty real." And I can't believe what I just saw—how'd I date someone as immature as _him_ is beyond me.

Blaineley's voice comes on from the loudspeaker in the room—her _again?_

"Attention losers, everyone is to come to the roller-skating rink NOW. And if you don't think I mean business, I do—if you like sleeping well, then move it!"

Cody looks at me. "I guess we should go, and I like my sleep a lot!"

Justin sighs. "This takes time out of my daily spa routine, but I can live."

I roll my eyes as all 5 of us leave the room, headed for the rink. I don't think I can handle any more surprises.

* * *

**A/N I finally got line breaks! I was trying to do it manually but I finally found there's a horizontal line on the tool bar -_- apparently I can't see haha. So hope you guys liked the lightheartedness of this chapter, Part 2 will be coming VERY SOON! Like probably in the next 2 days.**

**MorganTaylorM3-Justin is pretty stupid isn't he haha? :P And for some reason I can't hate Duncan either _**

**xLinkk-I think it is ironic you're a CIT hehehe.**

**MixMaster226-Keep on posting your funny reviews hahaha. I can tell you really hate Gwen and Duncan :O**

**Dreamer369 and Apocalypse owner-You will just have to keep reading :P**

**kutiekat44-thanks, stay tuned for part 2 :D**

**And Guests, thanks for your reviews! Thank you everyone for following this story, it really means a lot =) It's going to be pretty long, trust me, and we're just getting started!**

**Review if you like :D**


	8. Chapter 6 Part 2

**Courtney's P.O.V. (cont)**

We get to the rink in about 2 minutes since Cody remembered passing it earlier today. It's on the first floor a little bit past the ballroom. Blaineley's standing in the middle of the floor with a black hat in her hand—what's that for?

Blaineley tells us to put on our roller skates from the cubby near the door and stand behind the red line that's on the left side of the floor. As soon as we put on our skates the others come in the rink and do the same. Everyone looks annoyed at this interruption, especially Geoff—he really has a vendetta against her. We form a single file line, Sierra on my left and Trent on my right, while everyone looks at Blaineley expectantly. She finally speaks.

"Ok you lovable crew," she says with false sweetness. I know she's on her best behavior because I see cameramen in the corner of the rink. "We're going to make this game a little bit more interesting. I'm going to partner you up by picking names out of this hat. You'll be handcuffed to whoever I pair you up with. You and your partner will do 5 laps around this rink starting at that red line over there—" she points to where we're standing—"and the first pair to win are exempt from finding their next clue card! I will automatically give it to you after this challenge. Questions?"

"Yes!" I flare up. "How much longer are you going to make up the rules of this scavenger hunt, and why haven't you given us a rule book?" She is so slacking as a host!

Blaineley raises an eyebrow. "Who hosts this game? Oh me, right. And who's getting paid by the hour of every hour? Not you, so pipe down!"

"But—"

"Zip it!" she yells. "And for future reference, every time I tell you to do something on the loudspeaker, you do it! Understood?"

Everyone groans in agreement.

"Great!" she looks at the cameraman and whispers "Edit that last part out. Now," she resumes her normal voice, "Let's get you paired up." If I'm with _him_ I'm calling my lawyers for suspicious misconduct!

She pulls the first 2 names from the hat and I'm starting to sweat under my arms. "Harold and Noah."

"That's not too bad," Harold says, walking to Noah as a cameraman handcuffs them. Noah wrinkles up his nose.

"Ever heard of a toilet? It does wonders," he says sarcastically, looking in disgust at Harold's pants.

Leshawna looks over too. "Harold honey, why are there doo-doo stains all over your pants?"

"It's chocolate, I swear!" Harold protests. I'm trying not to laugh out loud but it_ is_ pretty funny. "I'd get new pants but they're all missing!"

The cheater snickers—of course.

Blaineley just shakes her head and continues. "I know you're excited Harold, but hold it in next time. Cody and Eva—"

"NOOO!" Sierra wails.

"Alejandro and DJ, Heather and Lindsay, Trent and Katie—"

"But I need my Biffle!" Sadie cries out.

"No exceptions," Blaineley says sternly. "Leshawna and Beth, Justin and Sadie, Duncan and—"

I've been holding my breath for so long I'm about to faint. Please, please, please, _please _don't be—

"Tyler—" I sigh in relief. Good.

"Gwen and Courtney—"

"WHAT?" I shriek, and look at Gwen who's avoiding my eyes. The cameraman pushes me towards her and handcuffs us together. Gwen's staring at the ground while I'm imagining clawing out her eyes out of their sockets. I try to pry myself out the handcuffs but I end up dragging Gwen along with me. "No. NO! I'm not racing with her! This was done on purpose and I can prove it—"

Blaineley throws her microphone on the ground angrily, flashing her eyes at me. "NO EXCEPTIONS! WHAT IS SO HARD TO GET ABOUT THAT?"

I quiet down—there's no point in trying to make her admit this was planned. She wouldn't say it on camera anyway. She'll wish she never messed with me!

Gwen is unusually quiet after knowing we're partners and I look at her more closely. She's tugging the bottom of her shirt and her nervous eyes are connected to the douchebag's, who just shrugs. I narrow my eyes at her. "Just so we're clear, I _hate_ you. Don't mess this up because _I_ deserve to win!"

"I don't like this situation either, but let's try to work together." She gives me a hesitant smile which quickly goes away as I frown back at her. She doesn't earn the right to smile at me after what she's done!

The douchebag leans forward in line to look at Gwen and says cheerfully "Good luck, babe." I think there's a double meaning behind that sentence. Gwen waves with her free right hand and I kick her hard in the shin, grinning in delight as she buckles and yells "OW, quit it!"

Justin leans forward to look at me and flashes his vampire-white teeth—ugh.

"Good luck, Courtney! You're smart, and definitely not impertinent!"

"Stop breaking my concentration!" I yell to him.

He stupidly waves and goes back in line. What did he think I just gave him, a compliment?

Blaineley walks up to us with the microphone back in her hand and a blow horn in the other.

"Ok, when I blow this horn, you start," she instructs. "3—"

"Wait!" Geoff cuts in angrily. "I don't have a partner! What's up with that?"

The vein on Blaineley's neck looks like it's about to explode as her eyes bore into Geoff's. "Looks like you got the short end of the stick, _pal_. Actually, only 23 of you are here since Ezekiel is…occupied elsewhere."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Geoff responds hotly. "And Alejandro shouldn't even compete—dude's a robot!"

"We don't discriminate based on, uh…body types—maybe next time you'll be lucky, Geoff."

"But that's not fair!"

"I don't care what's fair!" shrills Blaineley. She blows the blow horn unexpectedly and everyone immediately skates except for Geoff, who gets off the rink and sulks in a chair near the door.

Gwen and I are completely dysfunctional—for starters, she can't roller skate for her life and keeps bumping into me; and two, she's skating behind me, which is slowing our pace down because I'm the one that's doing all the work and dragging her sorry butt everywhere. I tug harder at our handcuffs to make her skate next to me but Gwen bumps into my shoulder, knocking us both down on the floor while Lindsay and Heather skate ahead of us. Ironically, they're surprisingly coordinated for hating each other. Gwen and I are still on the floor while everyone completes their first lap—now I'm gonna lose and it's all Gwen's fault—_UGH!_

The goth witch tries to stand up again but falls back on the floor, scraping her right arm. "This really sucks," she says grumpily, watching everyone glide by us on their 2nd lap. Yeah, no kidding!

"It's not my fault you can barely skate," I snap at her. I'd rather skate with Owen than with her! At least his farting would increase our speed!

Gwen now looks at me fully in the face and her eyes are blazing. Is that supposed to be intimidating? She has no idea who she's dealing with!

"If we had a strategy, we wouldn't suck!" she snaps back. "Just put aside your hatred for me for 5 minutes and let's work this out! Let's skate right foot first, then left foot, then right again—together, ok?"

I stand up with little effort and roughly pull up Gwen with me. "I'm only taking orders from you because we're wasting time," I say curtly. After a few mishaps of trying to skate in sync with our right foot, Gwen and I finally become balanced and glide across the rink smoothly. We finally get ahead of everyone else and are on our 4th lap. I see the finish line in front of us but then get a great idea. I tilt my skates inward to stop skating and Gwen jolts back from the sudden stop.

"What are you doing?" she asks, clearly annoyed. "No one's in front of us and we're right there!"

I smile deviously. "We're not winning."

"_What?_"

"Us winning means you're one step closer to being in Season 5, and I don't want you in it, so…nope."

I've never seen Gwen so furious—her eyes are hard and her nose is flaring in and out quickly. "You're seriously jeopardizing our chances to WIN?"

"Maybe I wouldn't if you weren't a pasty, selfish, backstabbing BOYFREIND KISSER!"

All Gwen can do is stare in shock with her mouth agape, and before she can fling out a string of petty insults, I see Tyler and the cheater who have somehow cut in the middle of the rink and are stumbling head first into us.

"WATCH OUT!" Tyler warns, but it's too late—they both collide into us as Gwen and I yell, closing our eyes as we crash on the floor. Pain shoots up my back and I groan. I open my eyes to tell Tyler I can't move and to get off of me, but instead I'm looking into terrified blue ones. And then I also realize—

The cheater's hand is groping my left boob.

"YOU PERVERT! GET YOUR HAND OFF MY BOOB!"

"Get your boob off my hand!"

"THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE AND YOU KNOW IT!"

"Like I wanna touch you! I just landed on it," he says angrily. "And I can't move anyway—Tyler's on top of me." He tries to wiggle free but he just grips my boob harder in doing so and I grimace. I can feel his warm breath on my face—I haven't been this physically close to him in a while, and it's overwhelming. My heart's pounding as the tips of our noses touch and for a moment I'm paralyzed under his weight—and Tyler's. We're staring into each other's eyes and I see pure horror reflected in his.

But overwhelming only lasts for a second because I'm able to move somewhat in this human clump and knee him in the stomach. He makes an "oof" sound from the impact and lessens his grip on my boob, and then someone finally takes him and Tyler off of us. Gwen and I stand up shakily and see Leshawna and Beth helping Tyler and the cheater get on their feet.

"What happened to you guys?" Beth asks, looking back and forth between us and the boys.

"Tyler being his accident prone self as usual I guess," I snip. "They just crashed into us and—" I shudder thinking about how my boob was abused and stop talking.

The blow horn goes off. "We have our winners!" Blaineley announces happily. "Cody and Eva!" She walks to them and gives them their cards.

A cameraman uncuffs Gwen and me and I shake my wrist. She speeds away from me and catches up with the cheater on the opposite side of the rink. At least the only good thing about this is Gwen didn't win.

Sierra tackles me out of nowhere, hugging me tightly. "I saw the whole thing! I can't believe he groped you—that animal! C'mon, let's play ping-pong—that'll get your mind off of this!" For once, I don't resist and let Sierra drag me out the rink with Cody trailing behind. We stop to take off our skates at the cubby hole when I notice Trent running up to us. "Hey! Can I join you guys? I really need to hide from Katie and Sadie."

Cody quickly nods. "Sure! It'd be good to have another guy around!"

"Well let's go then!" Sierra orders, taking the lead with Cody while Trent and I follow them. I look at Trent whose eyes are focused on Gwen—she's with the pervert, Bridgette, Geoff, and DJ, pointing at me angrily. The rest just shake their heads. Gwen then notices Trent and turns her back quickly to us. Trent just bows his head, looking sullen. I don't know what's with him and Gwen, but I'm in no position to ask. So instead I say "It's good to have another normal person in this group."

Trent's mood shifts and he chuckles—this is the most I've ever seen him happy here. "Nah, I think you mean the _only_ one."

"What? I'm normal!" I exclaim.

"If you say so," he jokes.

I have a couple of insults I'd like to say, but I think of what I saw between him and Gwen and say smugly "You're gonna get creamed at ping-pong for saying that!"

"All right, give it your best shot," he says smiling. Ugh, why is he so nice? But with Sierra, and Cody if he has to tag along, I guess I can finally enjoy this cruise…and maybe with Trent too, if he stops being so gloomy.

**Justin's P.O.V.**

So my third clue card was in one of the saunas! I guess Blaineley really knows my personality! I pick it up and look at the next clue—it's a 5 by 5 number grid, with different numbers listed beside each row and column. The rest of the grid is blank. C'mon brain, think, what is this? Ok, I'm exhausted—that's enough thinking for today! I'll ask Courtney to help! I think she's warming up to me—slowly but surely she's coming around. I felt bad I had to leave her after the roller skating challenge, but the pores on my face just could _not_ wait to be exfoliated. If I skipped my routine I would land in a minefield of pepperoni zits on my face—I'd be the laughing stock of the boat, next to Harold and his dookie fresh pants! Ok, it's chocolate, but spreading rumors is way too fun!

I leave the sauna and go into a hallway, passing a room that says 'Captain's Quarters.' Is Blaineley the captain of the boat? But I think you need a sea license or something for that. And who _is _driving this cruise? So many questions unanswered that don't concern my hair or how to make my abs harder.

I'm about to leave and hunt down Bridgette for more advice on Courtney when I hear Blaineley's voice from the 'Captain's Quarters' room. I guess she is the captain. She sounds angry—I press my door to hear her better.

"…they don't respect me at all! That party boy and that stick-by-the rules girl are getting on my nerves…oh, it's part of the contract? I don't remember signing up to be verbally abused, Chris…" Do I wanna know why Blaineley's talking to Chris? Are they dating? Can't say I didn't see it coming.

"…oooh, you're good, you're really good—I like that." Ok, now she sounds sensuous, and this will probably lead to something I don't wanna hear, but eavesdropping is my favorite hobby!

"Yeah, that's great…who cares about the first 13 who wins this competition? We'll just pick the 13 losers who rank the lowest in fan favorites instead for the 5th season, the bottom 13…_exactly_, that way the bottom 13 losers here will give the viewers at home a chance to warm up to the new cast—it's perfect!...Am I gonna cancel the competition? NO! I hate these teens! Let them work their butts off because it won't matter once I announce who wins anyway. They'll just think whoever I say won were the first 13 to turn in their stuff when I'm really going to read off the names of the bottom 13…I didn't copy off of you, I made the Guilded Blaineley way before you made yours!...don't you call me that! I–"

That's all I need to hear as I take my head off the door. What if I'm not in the bottom 13? Then I won't be in Season 5!

* * *

**A/N: Yayyyy I have a troll (in Noah's voice). Not surprised cuz I was "asking for it"- he wrote a really nasty review to NerdyBlonde99's story, who also recently reviewed my story-thanks for reviewing by the way :D I just pretty much said her story is great and stuff and there's nothing wrong with it (you should check it out it's called Playing The Game) and now here he is. Watcha gonna do about trolls? BLOCK 'EM, cuz that's what I did :D And also eat some brownies cuz my mom made some hehe. But I mean it's over and done with, don't care. There's no point in wasting time with a troll—I wasn't trying to start a war and I usually keep my comments to myself but it's just stupid to bash someone's story like that. I wrote this story originally for me and now it's for you guys too, and I'm glad you guys like it so far. So again thank you for reading, really! I like saying thank you because I mean it =)**

**The only reason why this update was so quick was b/c it was already written on my laptop along with part 1 :P I just didn't have time to edit it. I think I have a phobia of making really long chapters b/c I don't like reading them so I think you wouldn't want to—but i think im gonna have to change that as the story goes on, cuz there's a LOT of stuff coming up. And sorry for the spelling mistakes, I looked over the last chapter and saw like 3 mistakes with Harold and Gwen's dialogue. I read it over before I posted it but I think I read what the words SHOULD'VE said in my head haha.**

**This part was a little short but hope you DxC people liked that little interaction hehe :P and xLinkk here's your plot twist hehe. And "gfuroerogtuf" is def the best word to describe the people who think of these clues! But i guess that word would describe me cuz I'm making them up...:D**

**-SkorpionQueen012: your review cracked me up. Heather's prank had to be REALLY mean, sorry hehe. I mean, it's Heather haha. Not sayin she deserved it tho cuz no one should. And i like Heather anyway!**

**I hate to say it but I can only write 1 or 2 more chapters after this one before the summer ends :'( I have to pack up to go to college soon, and im getting my wisdom teeth out in the next 2 weeks. And when college starts I will have NO TIME to write this at all. So this story will be on a 4 month break and I'll get back to writing in December/January, yeesh—so far AWAY!**

**Sorry for the long A/N and see you soon!**


	9. Chapter 7

**Duncan's P.O.V.**

If I could kill Blaineley, I wouldn't hesitate to do it. It sucks my probation sentence is the only thing that's stopping me, though, and I am _not_ going back to juvie. She—or really Trent—ruined my fun at the surf simulator when DJ got a text from him saying that Blaineley's rigging the competition, so now we're all in Sierra's room, along with Courtney, Trent, Sierra, Justin, and Cody.

Sierra's jotting down something in her decorated Cody sticker journal, probably writing about this 'happy moment.' She probably begged for this 'emergency meeting' to be in her room like the creeper she is.

I really don't wanna be here right now, especially with Courtney in the room. She's sitting in a chair glaring at me and Gwen and I just glare back at her. Touching her boob was the last thing I wanted to do, but if she's still pissed at that then she should open her prissy little mouth and say something. Being close to Courtney like that scared the crap outta me—I wouldn't have minded being on top of her a long time ago, but now everything she does just turns me off.

The room is _way _too quiet as we're waiting for everyone else to come. Bridgette's sitting in Geoff's lap on Sierra's bed, me and Gwen are sitting on the floor with everyone else, and Justin's leaning against a wall and drooling at Courtney—why?—as she's glued to her damn PDA like it's her lifeline in her chair.

"Ok, when is everyone else getting here?" I say, annoyed. Everyone jumps—guess they weren't expecting someone to actually, ya know, _talk_, since we're all here.

DJ's phone goes off and looks at it. "Lindsay said she's on her way," he tells us.

I snort. "Since when do you have Lindsay's number?"

"Since we were on Team Victory! We bonded." Great, Deej is gonna turn into an airhead if he keeps 'bonding' with her.

Bridgette speaks up. "I just got a text from Leshawna—she's on her way, too."

Gwen sighs and looks at Sierra warily. "Would you just tell us what's going on already? Is it that bad?"

Courtney cuts in before Sierra opens her mouth, still glaring at Gwen. "It'd be pointless to repeat the same thing twice, and yes, it is bad," she spits. "It's horrible and totally uncalled for!"

"Why are we in here anyway?" Geoff tiredly asks. "There's a lot more room in the lobby."

Courtney rolls her eyes—geez, he was only asking a question, cut him some slack. "Our rooms are the safest places on the boat—if you forgot, there's cameramen filming us. There wouldn't be any cameras in our rooms because that's an invasion of privacy! We needed a place to talk in secret. Then again, Gwen knows all about keeping secrets." At that last part she gives Gwen an evil smile. I'm seriously about to tell Courtney off but Gwen beats me to it.

"Are you _trying_ to pick a fight?" she growls, standing up and clenching her fists. Justin stands in front of Courtney—uh, why? Is he her personal bodyguard? It's Courtney, she doesn't need it.

Justin looks scared like everyone else in the room, except for Courtney and me—she just has a smug expression on her face. If Courtney attacks Gwen, it's going _down._

"Guys, we can solve this," Justin says, glancing between a furious Gwen and a cocky Courtney, who's just sitting in her chair. "My _Hollister_ contract states I can't be in a room where 'an altercation of the physical nature is present.' So as long as I'm in this room, you guys _can't_ fight! I can't risk getting any bruises!" That crap's gotta be the stupidest thing I've heard in my life, and it looks like everyone thinks so too as we all stare at him like 'really dude?'

"What—" starts Gwen, but then the door opens and Lindsay, Tyler, Beth, Heather, and Ale-robo come in.

"I got DJ's text!" Lindsay says happily and sits on the floor with Beth and Tyler. "Bethany's rigging the competition? First Chip lies to us, and now her! It really shows you can't trust _anyone _here." It took her that long to figure that out?

Gwen huffs and sits back down next to me—guess the cat fight's happening another time since Lindsay's mouth killed the mood. She wrinkles her nose. "I didn't know Heather was with you guys."

"We were all in the spa together," Beth explains. "She overheard us talking when Lindsay got DJ's text."

Heather and Ale-robo walk over to Justin and lean against the wall, too. "Yeah, why didn't anyone tell me there was an emergency?" she asks hotly.

"I think no one has your number for obvious reason," I state. Heather looks like she wants to rip out my eyebrow piercing—I'd light her hair on fire before she does that.

"Unless you want ice dumped on your head and paint shot at you too, I suggest you stop talking—_now."_

I shrug. "That prank was awesome and you know it."

"You and Gwen just watch your backs," she snaps.

"Bring it on, then," I challenge. The door opens and Owen, Noah, Izzy, Leshawna, and Harold come in. They join the majority of us on the floor.

"What's this I hear about Blaineley rigging the competition?" Leshawna asks angrily. "Has she lost her mind?"

Courtney pushes Justin away from her to see everyone and says "Before we say anything, where's Katie, Sadie, and Eva?"

"Don't call them!" Trent blurts out. Hah, sucks to be him.

Courtney rolls her eyes. "Whatever, we're all in here anyway. So Justin told Cody, Trent, Sierra, and I that he overheard Blaineley talking to Chris about rigging the competition. Apparently, us collecting clues means nothing because at the end of this, she's gonna automatically pick the 13 people who rank the lowest in fan favorites, or the bottom 13, as she calls it, instead of the real winners!" Everyone gasps. Wow—that's pretty messed up.

"Why would she do that?" Bridgette asks.

Geoff snorts. "Cuz she hates us!"

Justin laughs. "Yeah…but she hates you and Courtney more….sorry Courtney," he adds quickly after seeing the dirty look she gives him. Really, what is his deal with her? He cringes under Courtney's eyes and continues. "She also said picking the 'losers' out of us will help the audience like the new cast better for the next season!"

Owen stuffs 5 brownies in his mouth. "So who's in the bottom 13?"

Courtney touches the screen of her PDA, looking at it intensely. "I haven't checked yet, but I know _I'm_ not—I'm one of the most likable people here." I snicker—yeah, right. She looks up from her device and narrows her eyes at me. "You're in no position to talk after what you did to me! You're DEFINITELY in the bottom!"

"So what if I am?" I shoot back. "That just means I get a freebie to win this thing and won't have to do any work. Sounds good to me." I haven't found my 1st clue yet, so I kinda wanna be in the bottom 13.

Courtney doesn't like my answer cuz she's looking at me like I'm stupid. "You _have_ to do the work! She still wants the competition to go on!"

"Once we tell her that we know she's rigging it, I doubt she's gonna make us work! I know I'm not doing anything. Kinda pointless to make us do stuff when we know her secret, so she's gonna have to cancel it and just put us in the 5th season. So I HOPE I'm in the bottom!"

"Being in the bottom means you're a loser to the viewing world! Which is exactly what you are and where you deserve to be because you're an obnoxious, disgusting, CHEATER!"

Gwen goes "Hey!" and stands up with me as I ball my hands into fists. That word boils my blood and I can't stop my mouth as I say "Well anyone with half a brain wouldn't put up with your shit either!" The room is dead silent and—I really shouldn't have said that—like, I _really _shouldn't have said that. But it just came out. I glance at Gwen next to me—looks like the cat fight came back as she returns Courtney's piercing glare. All I hear is my heavy breathing as I bore my eyes into Courtney's dark ones, and her face—her face is so pale, and even though her eyes are functioning cuz she's throwing daggers at me, her mouth fails to work as she tries to form words.

And then like lightning she's out her chair and her eyes are filled with pure fury as she rushes at me—I see her hand and then—**_SLAP!_** Her hand collides hard on my left cheek, the slap sounding like a firecracker, echoing loudly around the room and bouncing off the walls as my head snaps to the right. Before I can do anything—and I'm not sure what I wanna do—Gwen, Geoff, and Owen hold me back as I see Courtney's hand again, but Trent and Sierra grab her by the waist as she's kicking and flailing as I touch the burning sensation on my face, fuming as I look at her livid eyes.

"YOU THINK THIS IS MY FAULT?!" she screeches like a banshee. "YOU THINK THIS IS MY FAULT?! YOU CHEATED ON **_ME!_** YOU'RE THE BASTARD! YOU SHOULD BE HELD RESPONSIBLE!" She continues kicking as Leshawna opens the door with Trent and Sierra dragging Courtney out the room, Sierra saying "Ow, you're kicking my leg!" and Courtney yelling "I DON'T CARE! I HATE HIM, I HATE HIM!" her words trail off as they go further down the hallway.

Owen, Gwen, and Geoff let go of me as I'm shaking and the room's dead silent. Everyone's looking at me like I'm a bomb about to explode, cuz that's what I feel like. "What?" I spit and sit back down on the ground. Gwen looks shaken up too and sits back down next to me. I guess she wasn't expecting all this to happen.

Heather breaks the tension in the room. "Can we _please_ get on with this and see who's in the bottom already? You can watch them rip each other to shreds later." Yeah, she really knows how to get the mood back. I feel like going somewhere before I hit someone—hopefully not Geoff again—but since I got called in here I might as well stay and see what's going on.

My breathing slows down and Justin picks up Courtney's PDA from the floor, gulping nervously. Some bodyguard he'd turn out to be—he didn't do anything to help Courtney.

"Ok," Justin says anxiously, reading the PDA, "these are the bottom 13 in order: Geoff, Leshawna, Tyler, Beth, Harold, Courtney, me, Katie, Eva, Sadie, Sierra, Ezekiel, and Gwen. Yes, I'm in the bottom 13! I'm gonna win!"

Lindsay starts crying and hugs Tyler. "I'm not in the bottom 13 with you, Tyler! We won't be in Season 5 together!"

Justin reads more stuff. "And the top fan favorites in order are: Owen, Alejandro, Duncan, Izzy, Noah, Lindsay, Heather, Bridgette, Cody, DJ, and Trent. Wow, that's a shocker!" What?! That means I won't be in Season 5. Like hell I'm not! At least people still like me, though.

"What?!" Geoff protests. "Why is Bridge higher up than me?"

Bridgette hugs him. "Oh Geoffy-bear, it's because you got a big head on the Aftermath! It's ok, you just have to show everyone you're nice again! At least you'll be in Season 5!"

"But, but I am nice! And I don't wanna be without ya, babe!" They start making out—yeah, too bad Geoff's not a favorite, I'd be cool with them both of them not being in the next season.

Gwen's voice is depressed and squeaky. "I'm the _bottom_ of the bottom? Ezekiel beat me and he's barely human! But why…"

Noah cuts in. "Um, you and Duncan in the confessional, Tyler the Tattletale, Courtney throwing a hissy-fit…I can't be the only one who remembers." Me and Gwen shoot him a death glare. He's so on my hit list next to Harold.

"Thanks for the reminder," Gwen says bitterly.

"Keep it up, and you're not gonna be remembering anything either," I threaten. Noah drily says "Enlighten me." He wants a light? I'll knock his out for being a smart-ass!

Beth scratches her head. "So why is Duncan 3rd favorite then?"

Owen laughs. "Oh, that's easy, Beth! For the guy viewers he's like the winner of the Babe Olympics! Getting 2 girls on this show, he's the ultimate guy!"

"Or—tool," Tyler coughs. Number 3 on my hit list. And then Owen's 4 for making Gwen sadder. I feel bad for her, though—she still looks sad, so I rub her back. She brightens up a little.

"And then Alejandro's 2nd because he's gorgeous!" Owen finishes.

"Hey!" Justin says angrily. "I'm the gorgeous one now!"

"Yeah, but Al's got style, charisma, and he's smoking hot!" Everyone looks at Owen questioningly. I'd say he's bi at least, but nothing's wrong with that. "Ya know, if I was a _girl_ I'd say that, DUH. And I guess all the girl viewers like Alejandro and uh…not people who, uh…did what you…did…Gwen."

"Whatever," mutters Gwen, holding her hands on her knees now. I wrap my arms around her and she gives me a small smile that I return. Screw the polls, Gwen doesn't deserve to be last.

"Are you done now?" I rudely ask Owen. He quickly nods. "Good, cuz if you weren't, it wasn't gonna be pretty."

Heather's demanding voice breaks through my thoughts on trying to cheer Gwen up. "Even though I'm flattered to be a fan favorite—and of course why wouldn't I be, I make this show worth watching—I'm not putting up with this! If we let her get away with this, I won't be in Season 5! And that million dollars was supposed to be mine! We need to find a way to get her to unrig it."

Leshawna laughs at Heather's angry face. "You mean _you _need to find a way to get her to unrig it. I'm safe! Don't even waste your time, I'm gonna be in Season 5!" Harold and Eva nod in agreement. She does have a point—it's me and the other fan favorites who're in danger.

"Well I'm not getting jipped of a million dollars if we don't do something," I say spitefully, standing up. "So let me get this straight, everyone who's in the bottom 13 won't help us stop Blaineley?" Only Leshawna, Eva, and Harold nod. Tyler, Beth, Gwen, and Geoff shake their heads.

"Dude, you're my bud!" says Geoff. "You won't be in it if we don't do something—and Bridge too!"

Gwen also nods. "What Geoff said."

"I can't leave my Lindsay behind, and I know Beth doesn't want to either," adds Tyler.

Justin clears his throat. "I have a plan." Since when does he think? "Why don't we get Blaineley to tell us on tape? I have my camera! And we can send the confession to Courtney's lawyers to sue!"

Noah chuckles. "Huzzah, her lawyers are actually useful for once."

I hear a heavy sigh from DJ. "She'll just deny it when we confront her."

Do these guys know anything? "We have to threaten her to get her to tell us! We get her to confess on video that she and Chris are rigging the show, and then shave her hair if she doesn't fess up! I got a razor."

If it isn't Courtney, it's Harold who has to say something about my idea. "What if that doesn't work?"

"Of course it'll work!" Heather shouts. "No girl wants to be bald! I had to live through it for almost 2 seasons!"

"So hold up, hold up," interrupts Leshawna. "Y'all are actually gonna make her unrig the show? Even though I'm already picked to win this thing?"

"Have you been listening to anything we've just said?" Heather retorts snobbishly.

"Aw, _hell_ naw, I want my spot in Season 5! If y'all are threatening Blaineley, well so am I! I'm gonna tell her to keep riggin' the show, announce the Season 5 winners, and cancel the competition cuz I don't wanna do any work!" She turns to Justin. "Justin, we're in the same boat, you gotta help us! Where's Blaineley's room?"

"It's on the 3rd floor near the ice skating rink."

"Alright, c'mon String Bean and Eva, we got some convincing to do to Blaineley." She grabs Harold's hands and leaves the room with Eva smirking at us. Everyone glares at Justin.

"Thanks for making us lose, Justin," Cody says sourly.

"Actually, I don't know where the ice skating rink is, and her room is the Captain's Quarters, on the first floor near the saunas," Justin winks.

"So why are you helping us?" Heather asks suspiciously.

Justin gives the fakest smile in the world. "Well, Trent's not in the bottom 13, and since he was in The Drama Brothers with us, we gotta look out for each other! He deserves to be in the 5th season too!" I think Justin has another motive—since when does he think of others? The only person he cares about is the freak with the no-violence policy staring back at him in the mirror.

"Ok, so our plan is to find Blaineley in her room and shave her hair if she doesn't unrig the show," starts Bridgette, "but we don't know where she is. Is she still in her room? She could be anywhere!"

I get up from the floor and pull up Gwen with me. "Going to her room first is worth a shot—we'll change it up if we hit some bumps. Pretty Boy, get your camera and meet us at Blaineley's room. I'm gonna get my razor. Everyone else, just…find Blaineley's room." Everyone nods and starts to go in the hallway. Izzy rushes past me.

"Ooh, Izzy loves playing Hide and Seek! Will we find Blaineley in her room? The world may never know!"

Noah groans. "Please, someone shoot me now."

Gwen, Geoff, Bridgette, and DJ follow me to my room to get my razor. Man, this day just got hell of a lot better.

**Trent's P.O.V.**

"Courtney, chill out, we left the room!" I yell, trying to overpower her screams of hating Duncan as me and Sierra take each of her arms and force her to walk down the hallway. She's _really_ strong—she's like those Spanish bulls that chase the red flag, only her flag is Duncan. I guess I'm the second flag because she keeps elbowing me in my ribcage while she tries to escape. Man her elbows are pointy!

"I will NOT 'chill out'!" she snaps, still kicking her legs to get away. "Let me go! I wasn't done hitting him!"

"As much as I _loved_ seeing you slap Duncan—" Courtney's arm tenses when Sierra says 'Duncan.' Does she not like hearing his name? "—you're kind of unstable right now, so you need to cool off. Next time you wanna hit that lousy cheater, just tell me. We can beat him like a piñata with my bat!"

"Uh, you have a bat on the boat?" I hesitantly ask. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised.

"Well DUH," Sierra says, giggling like a crazy person—wait, she is one. "How else am I gonna keep Cody from sleepwalking? Last time he did I couldn't find him for 20 minutes! I can't be away from him for that long!" Who's the unstable one again?

Courtney stops trying to get out of our grasp and is actually allowing us to guide her through the hallway as we turn a corner. I think Sierra's answer about the bat made her calm down, and now she's creepily smiling at Sierra. Oh great.

"Do you have another bat?" Courtney asks evilly, her smile getting wider. "It'd be twice as fun if you joined in."

"Of course!" Sierra gleefully replies. "I always bring a back up bat!" She looks at me slyly. "Do you wanna join in pulverizing that good-for-nothing piece of trash to a pulp too? You know it'll feel gooooood."

I shakily laugh. "Um, I'll pass." Sierra just shrugs and Courtney has this glassy look in her eye. I don't wanna start any beef with Duncan—it's bad enough he already has Gwen. I don't blame Courtney at all; he deserves to get hit with a bat! Just what kind of guy cheats on his girl? How could Gwen like someone like that and be part of it too? It's like…she's a totally different Gwen…but I still…I still lo—

Gwen's face disappears from my head as someone nudges my arm. "W-What?!" I say in a panic, darting my eyes to see where I am. Oh, we're in front of the game room.

Courtney huffs and releases herself from my loosened grip. "We've been calling you for the past minute! Wake up!" Looks like she's back to her old self—guess all she needed was Sierra to plan a Duncan bashing party—literally.

Sierra runs inside the room with me and Courtney following behind. She goes to a large ping pong table and picks up a paddle and a ball. "Ok Courtney, let out all your pent up anger at me! C'mon!"

Courtney doesn't even think twice before she's on the other side of the table and picks up her paddle, smirking at Sierra. "Bring it!" she barks, getting into a…ping pong stance?

Sierra grins deviously. "The ball, is the guy who stepped all over your heart…the guy who stepped all over your heart, is the ball…now hit him like you mean it and hit him where it hurts!"

"Just hit the ball already!" And the game begins. As soon as the ball bounces to Courtney's side, she jumps into the air and grand slams it like a pro-wrestler or something! They're both chillingly aggressive as the ball's a blur between them. There's a lot of "Take that you bastard!" "Who's the weak one now?!" and "You think this paddle is hard? Wait till you feel that bat cracking your spine!" Yessh, I do _not_ wanna get on their bad sides.

Since I'm out the loop of playing with them, I walk over to the TV and pop in _Rockband 2_ into the Xbox 360, putting the guitar strap over my shoulder. I pick 'Float On' to play, and it's really easy. Man, I need this game at home!

A cell phone alarm goes off and I turn to see it's Sierra's. The ball whizzes past Sierra's face as she checks her phone. "I need to find Cody, it's time to take his allergy shots! If he misses a dose who knows what could happen. Let's all have dinner at 6 tonight!" And like that she's gone.

Courtney sighs. "I have to admit, that was a good way to get out my anger—it's better than breaking lamps."

I pause my game and raise my eyebrows. "When did you break a lamp?"

"It's not like it's a big deal, it was in my room—don't worry about it." Her voice seems really detached—obviously _something_ happened. I won't pressure her, though. If she doesn't wanna tell me, that's fine—and if she does, well, that's good too. I don't really expect her to tell me all her secrets anyway.

I take off the guitar strap and take Sierra's place at the ping pong table, grabbing her paddle. "We never got to play since Justin told us about Blaineley. You still gonna cream me?" I say with a smile. I know I'm not gonna win, but it's worth a shot.

She looks at me mischievously. "Prepare to be annihilated!"

"You're on!" And with that I take the ball and hit it over the net.

We play about 7 games of Courtney kicking my butt—and with less anger—until I score a point in the 8th game. She stares at me with her mouth open.

"B-but I never lose!" she protests, glaring at me as I give her a guilty smile. "No one's ever beaten me at ping pong! Not even Sierra was close enough!"

I shrug. "I guess it was a lucky shot."

"Yeah, it _was,_" she retorts crossly. Wow, she really is a sore loser. She didn't have to say it like that. It's just a game, and I only beat her once. Why does she think she's always right and everything works for her? But I really don't wanna get her angry again so I just keep my comments to myself.

I guess not saying anything and whatever expression I have on my face makes Courtney go "Well, if you practice you'll get to be like me."

"Really?"

"_Almost_ like me."

There goes that moment. Whatever, I don't really care anymore. Sometimes she's…ok most of the time she's difficult to read. But she needs someone, and we're in the same situation, with our exes together and all…and I never really got to talk to her in TDI. It's like I'm meeting her for the first time. Although I think we would've gotten along better in TDI then now. She kinda changed.

My phone goes off—it's a text from DJ.

"So I'm not in the bottom 13," I murmur as I read the text.

"Well what is it?" Courtney demands.

"DJ and everyone are going to Blaineley's room to get her to confess on camera that she's rigging the show," I slowly say, still reading, "and…they're threatening to shave off her hair if she doesn't…oh, and Leshawna's trying to stop them so she can be in Season 5."

"So I guess she's in the bottom. Did he tell you who's in the bottom with her?" Courtney asks impatiently.

"Yeahhhh." She's not gonna like the rest of it. "I'm not in the bottom…but you are."

"WHAT?!" She walks up to me and looks at my phone. "I'm _6__th_ in the bottom?! Have people forgotten I've always been near the end of every season! Well, excluding what Harold did to me in TDI. And I'm the fiercest competitor there is! I bet I'm in the bottom because everyone likes…_him._" She begins to shake. "I am _not_ a loser and shouldn't be clumped with the rest of those…idiots!"

"Sierra's in the bottom with you, too," I point out. Yeah, she's a psycho stalker who has a disturbing relationship with Cody, but she's really helping Courtney get better, and that's good.

"She—she—" I'm waiting for her to say something nice about Sierra. "She's ok, it's just the rest of them! And Gwen's in the bottom! I wonder why." That last part sounded cocky. I know why too, but…I can't say it out loud. So I just nod in agreement, looking at the floor.

"Hey." I look up to see Courtney with her hands on her hips, eyeing me coolly. "You can do a lot better, Trent." I can? "Liking someone who backstabs their friends? Who doesn't even give you a second chance and moves on to someone new, forgetting about you entirely?"

My chest feels like it's being twisted at all the painful accusations.

"She didn't forget!" I hope my voice didn't sound high-pitched right there.

"Sure she did!" she lashes back and I wince from the acid in her voice. "She's with _him._ And for your own piece of mind you should move on too!"

That knocks the breath out of me as if I got hit by a car, and I grip the edge of the ping pong table to steady myself. It's true—everything she's saying is true, but…

"Courtney, I don't wanna hear it," I say, my voice strained, still looking at the floor. "I don' t—just—give it a rest."

She haughtily laughs. "If I don't tell you the truth, then who will?"

I can't take her anymore. Rage storms inside of me and topples over as we both glower each other down intensely. "Maybe you should take your own advice and move on too!"

"My situation is completely different from yours!" Her voice rises to hysteria.

"It's basically the same thing!"

"You didn't have someone cheat on you!"

"It sure feels that way to me!"

I don't think she was expecting that because she looks appalled and incredulous as both of us breathe hard. She finally ends our staring contest in a snooty voice. "You can do better and you know it! Use your brain and find a girl that's gonna respect you!" She swiftly walks out the room and disappears.

I slump on the floor, drained. I didn't think all that would happen. We were getting along somewhat well and then when Gwen got brought up…I couldn't handle it.

I know all the things Courtney said were true. Gwen never wanted to talk after TDA—I texted and called but she never got back to me. It was like the stages of being forgotten. I bet she liked Duncan then—ok, _obviously_ she liked Duncan. But why wouldn't she give us another try? Guess I liked her more than she liked me. And that hurts.

Of course I'm gonna get defensive about Gwen—I still wanna be with her. Even though I told her we couldn't be friends, I wanna give it my all now. And…I can't help but think this is all my fault with Courtney. She was right—I didn't wanna hear what I was already thinking. She has a weird way of talking about things, but that's just her I guess.

As for a girl that respects me? It was Gwen. But I know I'm not ready to move on…not yet.

I get up from the floor and exit the room, going to my cabin to get my guitar. Once I get it, I head to the ballroom because I know Courtney will be there.

The room is bright when I enter. Courtney's sitting at the piano, playing a song I don't recognize, but it's really fluid and calming. She sees me and stops. "What?" she flares up. "Don't worry, I won't tell you anything truthful ever again."

I ignore that stab and hop on stage with her, smiling. Don't know why I'm smiling, but it gets bigger as she raises her eyebrows and says "Why are you so happy all of a sudden? In case you forgot, we just had a fight—and you're _smiling?_"

"Yep." I pull a chair next to her. "Name a song, any song—something well-known or on the radio."

"Why?" she asks skeptically, glancing at my guitar. "Are you gonna play something?"

Man she's difficult, but I think I get her now. Kinda. Sorta. Ok not really but it's getting there.

I don't answer her and start strumming. She has her arms crossed and looks leery. And then I sing.

_"If you ever find yourself stuck in the middle of the sea_

_I'll sail the world, to find you_

_If you ever find yourself lost in the dark and you can't see_

_I'll be the light, to guide you."_

Still grinning at her, I continue to strum as she looks at me in surprise, releasing her arms from her chest.

_"Find out what we're made of_

_When we are called to help our friends in need_

_You can count on me like 1,2,3_

_ I'll be there_

_And I know when I'm needed I can count on you like 4,3,2_

_You'll be there_

_Cuz that's what friends are supposed to do, oh yeah_

_Ooooohh, ooohhh, ooh, yeah, yeah."_

I just keep repeating the beginning melody and look at Courtney's who's speechless—that's a first. And looking like she can't believe this is happening. Then I skip to the last line of the song, finishing:

_"You can count on me cuz I can count on you."_

It's silent for a few seconds while Courtney's still in shock.

"Sorry," I abruptly say. "You were right—about everything. I was thinking all those things about Gwen. And when I heard someone else slamming my thoughts back in my face, I got scared, because…it meant everything I'd been thinking was true." I let out a deep sigh and look at a curious Courtney. "So, thanks for knocking some sense into me."

Still quiet. Then she gives a crafty grin. "I could always hit you with Sierra's bat if you need more 'sense.'"

Her reply makes me laugh—I can't believe she made a joke! _Courtney_ is actually joking with me? Wow!

Courtney's eyebrows furrow. "What's so funny? I can and WILL hit you with one if you keep it up!"

I'm still cracking up. "It's just—I've never seen you lighten up. You're always—"

"Ok, now that we've established that I never make jokes, can you play that song again? It's actually really…relaxing."

"No prob." I play the song and start singing again as Courtney moves her head to the beat.

I think we're ok. No, more than ok. I think we're…

Friends.

**Justin's P.O.V.**

Where is everybody? I got my camera but I'm the only person waiting outside Blaineley's door, and I don't think she's even in there since I knocked. I have Cody and Trent's numbers since we were in The Drama Brothers, so I'll text them. And plus, they're the ones in danger of not being in the 5th season—I'm perfectly safe! But even though I can join Leshawna to keep the competition rigged so me and Courtney can win, I'm stopping Blaineley to get Courtney's attention! I can see it now—the beautiful Courtney wrapping her arms around me and kissing me passionately while I run my fingers through her soft hair, as she calls me a hero for unrigging the show. This plan has to work—I want my kiss! Or if not a kiss, at least a date!

I look at both ends of the hallway—no one's coming. Sighing, I get out my phone and text Cody and Trent:

_Hey Blaineley's not in her room and im the only 1 in here! Where r u?_

Trent immediately texts back:

**w/Courtney. Is Duncan there?**

Oh yeah, I forgot Trent was with her. I hope she calmed down—her anger problems are another thing we'll have to work on once we're a couple. I can't have my girlfriend die from high-blood pressure—it'd be all over the tabloids!

_No, but he's coming._

**Don't wanna repeat of earlier. Just txt when ur not w/him anymore.**

Boo, I wanted to see Courtney! I could see her later and write another poem to cheer up! I think the last one made her happy. I don't like her with snot running down her nose like the other day—not her best look.

There's no point in texting Trent back so I'm just waiting. And waiting, until finally Cody, Sierra, Owen, Izzy, Noah, Heather, and Ale-Stole-My-Spotlight comes from the left side of the hallway.

"You guys took a really long time," I say, shaking my head. "Do you know how many sexy headshots I could've taken with my camera?"

Izzy jumps up and down. "Oooh, let me guess! Like 351 right? We we're gone for 15 minutes, so you could've taken, like, 23.4 pictures per minute!"

"Actually, my record is 79 per minute!" I gloat, showing off my pearly whites. "I'm trying to do 80 but it's hard!"

Owen covers his eyes with his hands. "AAAH, your perfectly model white teeth are burning my eyes! Make it STOOOOOP!"

"Oh, sorry." I stop beaming and Owen lays his arms down, breathing hard. And then he farts—at least it was a little one.

Everyone goes "Ewww." It smells like—

"Mmm, beans," Owen says dreamily.

"Ugh, you're just a constant fart machine!" Heather says in disgust.

"I panicked when Justin's teeth blinded me!" I guess I should be flattered I have the power to make Owen fart—good thing, or bad?

I shake my head and look at Cody. "Did you get my text? I don't think Blaineley's in there. I knocked but no one answered."

Cody looks glumly at Sierra who's happily humming. "No…Sierra had my phone the whole time while she was giving me my allergy shot and forgot to _mention_ that!" Sierra takes the phone out her pocket and gives it to Cody.

"Oops, must've forgotten to check when it vibrated," she sing songs. Cody just frowns.

Heather gives an annoyed 'ugh' and moves to the door, banging on it. "Open up in there, we know you're rigging the show!" No answer. She starts kicking the door. "Get OUT here!"

Noah looks at Heather with mild amusement. "Yeah, acting like the Big Bad Wolf is really gonna make her open the door. Smart move."

Heather's still kicking as Duncan, Gwen, Bridgette, Geoff, DJ, Lindsay, Beth, and Tyler, come from the right of the hallway.

"Got the razor!" Duncan smirks as he holds it up—or smarting, I can't really tell since he has a red hand mark on the left side of his face. I'm basically shooting needles at him with my eyes but he doesn't notice. What he said to Courtney earlier was wrong! Telling her because of all her problems, that's why he cheated on her? I don't know what relationship book Duncan's been reading, but when you're dating someone, you talk to them about their problems—they might not even be aware of it! That's why when we're a couple, I'm gonna tell Courtney she's gonna have frown lines if she doesn't stop. It's tough love, but it's needed!

Duncan's group joins us and snickers at Heather still trying to barrel the door down. "I take it Blaineley's not in there?" Bridgette asks.

Heather stops her useless kicking and stomps her foot. "We don't have time to find her! She could be anywhere on this stupid boat!"

"The chick's gotta come back at night and sleep, right?" Geoff points out. "Have you guys seen her in the morning? She needs all the beauty sleep she can get!"

Duncan pulls Gwen along with him right in front of the door. "Ok, remember how I showed you to open it?"

"Yeah, I think so."

He takes out a safety pin and hands it to a blushing Gwen—I'm glad Courtney's not here to see this. Tyler looks confused as Gwen fidgets with the door. "I thought she wasn't in there?"

Duncan smirks again and Gwen opens the door. "Change of plans! We're gonna steal something valuable if shaving her hair doesn't work—and we're coming back at midnight to see if she's here again." Everyone crowds in the room as Heather flips her hair haughtily.

"Why are _you_ in charge?"

"Cuz I'm the one with the razor! And I can easily rearrange an 'accident' if you got a problem with it!"

"Puh-_lease_." But Heather's eyes looks unsure and stops talking.

Blaineley 's room looks different from ours—it's a lot bigger, has a flat screen TV, and a kitchenette. And it's messy with clothes and make-up anywhere. I go into the kitchenette and see a low-fat smoothie that hasn't been drunk yet, but before I get to it, Owen snatches it up and inhales it, smacking his lips. "Mmm, lime-coconut."

"Owennnnn! I wanted that!" I whine. "And that's my favorite flavor!"

"Oh, well, ya know, if I was a bird I could just throw it back up in this cup and give it to you—"

"Ew, back in the cup? No, that's ok—"

"You're so totally right, how silly of me!" He smacks his forehead, laughing. "Mouth to mouth is the _correct_ way to do it! Here, I'll—"

"AAAAHHHHHH!" I run back in the main room and hide behind Ale-Wishes-He-Could-Be As-Hot-As-Me. First Beth drools over me, then Katie and Sadie, and now Owen?! I can't handle the pressure of my good looks coming back so fast! I'm not mentally ready!

Alejandro glides to the closet as I follow behind him, hiding from Owen, while everyone's looking for something valuable. He then starts to repeatedly beep. What the heck?! I dash away from him and hide behind DJ as everyone's looks scared at Alejandro.

"What's going on, man?" DJ asks with fear creeping up in his voice. I peek from DJ and see Alejandro raising his arm and shooting a laser at the closet door, making a large hole.

Gwen steps through the new entrance. "Well, this is more convenient than opening the door…what the heck?" She comes back in the room with 5 Gemi Awards. "Who carries their own awards with them?"

"Who cares, we got something valuable!" Duncan hugs Gwen. "Nice work, babe."

"You mean nice work Alejandro," Heather rudely corrects.

"Whatever," Duncan says, shooing her away.

"Hey, I just thought of something," Cody says. "Since we're on an actual cruise, real people would've been here for vacation, which means there's gotta be security cameras hidden around. And we _are_ being filmed, so there's gotta be a security room! Why don't we find it and look at the cameras to see where Blaineley is instead of waiting till midnight? It'd be a lot faster."

Sierra crushes Cody into a monster hug. "My Cody is so smart! Our kids are definitely gonna inherit your brilliance!" Aww, what a cute couple! I hope me and Courtney are like that, minus the psychotic behavior. 'Cuckoo Courtney Goes Nuts Over Beau'—yeah, not a good image for me—or magazine headline.

Beth looks around the room. "I'm guessing no one knows where it is." Everyone shakes their heads. Izzy flips right in front of Alejandro. "C'mon guys, if Al could find the awards, he can find the room! Let me just program it…" Her hands are a blur as she presses all the gadgets on Alejandro's chest, and then she stops, smiling at her hard work. A robot voice says "Find. Security. Room." He spins around, puts out an arm that vaporizes Blaineley's door completely, and leaves with Heather following behind.

"I hope she doesn't have to pay for the expenses on this boat," I say as we all follow Alejandro and Heather. Bridgette giggles next to me.

"So, Bridgette," I start off smoothly, "what else can you tell me about Courtney? What does she like?"

"I'm not really that close to her," she admits, "but I can tell you everything we've talked about from TDI. Plus, Sierra might be a better person to ask—she knows everything about everyone."

"Yeah, but you knew Courtney first and that's a big difference," I say, brightly smiling.

"Oh—ok." She's squinting and blocks my rays with her arm. "Well…she likes flowers…lilacs, not lilies. I don't know why she doesn't like lilies."

"Uh huh." I whip out my notepad and pen and jot everything down.

"Wow, you're being really serious about this," she giggles.

"Of course! Anything to win her over! Favorite candy?"

"Uh, I don't know."

"Favorite instrument?"

"That's random, but the violin—she plays it."

"Favorite song?"

"Something classical I guess?"

"Color?"

"Purple."

"The book slash movie slash musical?"

"What?"

"Hey Pretty Boy!" Duncan shouts angrily from behind. I turn around to see his glare. "I got a question for you—what's red and toothless?"

"Is this a trick question?"

"Your mouth, if you don't shut up with all those questions!" He punches his fist into his hand menacingly and I gulp. I really would keep asking Bridgette more stuff but I _really_ like my teeth. It's the first thing people notice about me! I didn't have 5 years of braces for nothing! Back in my…ugh, ugly duckling stage.

Speaking of ugly, why do so many guys like Duncan anyway? Why did Courtney like him? As a couple, he was doing nothing for her in the looks department. How is everyone overlooking his unibrow?! At least get someone to wax it off! Even Gwen doesn't mind it. Did I miss the memo of unibrows being the new black? No way am I getting a fake one even if that's true! And a green Mohawk? He'd look so much better in red! It matches his personality more. I'm gonna look so much better with Courtney than Duncan ever did when we're a couple!

Bridgette elbows me and I snap back in reality. "I'll tell you more later," she whispers and I nod. We keep walking down into a long hallway until we reach the end of it with a room that says "Employee Personnel Only."

"Security. Room. Located." Heather opens the door before Alejandro vaporizes it and we all see a couple of stairs leading down into a dark hole. Alejandro floats up a foot in the air, powered by fire, and goes down the stairway. Izzy somersaults right behind him going "Whoo! I'd so kill to be a robot!" We all tentatively go down the staircase and in few seconds get to a door that says 'Security Room.' On the right is some type of security system where you have to enter a passcode, but it has all the letters of the alphabet instead of numbers. My stomach growls loudly. All this searching is making me hungry for a low-cal dinner.

Lindsay pouts. "Aww, we'll never open—" but Alejandro just vaporizes this door too, leaving Lindsay with her mouth open. "Never mind."

We all step in the room—nothing's really interesting unless you count the cameras, the multiple TVs showing different locations of the boat, lots of wires, boxes of half empty donuts and—

"CHEF?!" we say confused. He wakes up from the computer chair going "I won't leave ya soldier!" He then notices us and stands up straight. "What are you maggots doing here?"

"More like, aren't you supposed to be with Chris on the island hosting the show?" asks Gwen.

"What I'm doing here is nobody's business!" he barks. "You need to be lookin' for those clues! Now get your scrawny butts outta here or I'll move—them—for—you."

Heather goes up to a surprised Chef and jabs her finger in his chest. "Oh we'll move, after you tell us where Blaineley is. We know she's rigging the competition and I think Alejandro can practice his laser skills on a live person if _someone's_ not willing to talk."

Chef looks at the missing door and then at Heather. "Fine—I picked her up this morning and took her to the island. She needed to talk to Chris. I just came here to check up on _my_ boat and what do I come back to? Intern's slacking in the camera room! They need some lashes!"

"When is she gonna be back?" asks DJ.

"Sometime tomorrow—8am, 11am, 4pm, midnight—tomorrow! Now get out and don't let me catch you in my security room again!"

"What did she have to talk to Chris about?" I add.

"_Again_, none—of your—business," Chef says lowly through gritted teeth.

Owen's hand inches to the donuts and Chef slaps him, making Owen go "For the love of all things that are sweet and good, that really smarts!"

"NOW YOU SISSIES GET OUT AND DON'T MAKE ME WHIP YOUR BUTTS NUMB!"

We all scamper out the room and run up the stairs back into the hallway.

Cody looks back at the door, his breath shaky. "I don't think I can sleep knowing Chef's there."

"Oh Cody, I'll protect you! Don't—you—worry!" At that last part she tries to lift him off the ground.

Duncan just shakes his head at Sierra and Cody. "Ok, change of plans. If someone sees Blaineley tomorrow, just text someone and we'll all get there somehow. And we can use Ale-robo to threaten Blaineley instead. I think my razor's pretty lame compared to his lasers."

"Great plan, nice teamwork everyone, and by everyone, I mean Alejandro," Noah says with fake enthusiasm. "I don't know about you guys, but it's 6 o'clock and I'm hungry." He walks off to the dining hall with Owen carrying Izzy in his arms as he says "Wait up little buddy!" Everyone starts to break up and I walk to Bridgette. "Think you can tell me more about Courtney?"

She peeks at Duncan. "How about after dinner?" I catch her drift.

"Ok," I wink. She smiles and walks with Geoff and their crew. I catch up to Sierra and Cody who are headed to the dining hall too. "Hey, would you mind if I joined you for dinner?" They better be eating with Courtney or it's gonna be a waste of my time.

Sierra squeals and claps her hands. "No, not at all! Are you gonna be part of our foursome?"

"Uh—"

"Whoops, that came out _so_ wrong," she giggles. "I meant if you're gonna be part of me, Cody, Courtney, and Trent's group?" Whoo, wasn't sure what I was getting myself into right there. I'm not even gonna bring up that adding me would be a fivesome—I've had enough awkwardness today, thanks to Owen offering to give me my first man kiss!

I clasp both Sierra and Cody's shoulders. "Yeah, I guess I am gonna be part of your group."

"Now all the attention can be off me," Cody mumbles, but Sierra doesn't hear him because she would've freaked out.

"Great!" Sierra squeals some more. "I love making new friends!" Same here, same here. Especially with people that gets me one step closer to being with Courtney.

**Duncan's P.O.V.**

Bridgette's yellow race car comes outta nowhere and rams my car over the bridge, knocking me in the water.

"MALIBU!" I turn my head to the right and stare her down while she laughs and high-fives Geoff, who's also sitting next to her, as she continues to move the steering wheel with her left hand.

"Who's winning now?" she taunts.

"Nice one, Bridge!" Geoff praises. "Look at you, you're in 1st now—WOOHOO!"

"Yeah, well you're still in 4th place," I snap. I didn't even see Bridgette gaining up on me! Some random angels lift me out the water and put me where I last left off. I grip the wheel harder and _floor_ it. "You're going down Malibu!"

"Guys, I thought we were just playin' for fun," DJ says to the left of me. Yeah, look where 'fun' put him—in 4th, since he's decided to drive like a freakin' grandma and let Geoff pass him!

"This _is _fun!" I roar, catching up to Bridgette—she's close to the finish line but I gang up on her and ram her sorry-ass car into the wall on the right, making her flip high in the air as she wails "NOOOOOOO!"

"SCOOOOORE!" I get up and do a little victory dance. No way could Bridgette beat me, I own this game! "Next time, Malibu," I jeer back. She opens her mouth to say something but Geoff interrupts her with "Aww, sweet, I got in 2nd! Looks like I wasn't that far behind ya, Bridge!"

Bridgette gloomily finishes her car at 3rd. "Wow, didn't see that coming at all."

DJ gets up from his chair and pats her shoulder. "It's ok Bridge, you were beating Duncan for a while so that counts for something." Comforting the loser isn't part of the game—you're supposed to give props to the winner, and I'm not getting any!

"Yeah, but did you guys see how I slammed Malibu and made it back to 1st? Awesome comeback, right?" Geoff high-fives me over Bridgette.

"You got some serious racing skills, dude! You should be in like, NASCAR or something! And the way you made her hurl in the air? Wicked!" Bridgette frowns at him and he quickly adds "But ya know, NASCAR's not that big of a thing anyway, pssh, who watches that?" Still frowning. "And you shouldn't slam people if you become a pro-racer, too—I think that's illegal." Bridgette sighs like 'how stupid are you' while Geoff goes "What?" Way to make your girl feel better, man.

I stretch my arms and yawn. "Well, this was fun, but I have plans to hang out with Gwen."

DJ chuckles. "You guys watching another movie?"

"Yep." Wow, they're all a bunch of suckers. I don't really have plans to see Gwen, I just want time by myself. The whole Courtney thing today's been pissing me off, and my face still stings—I just wanna cool off somewhere.

Geoff gives me a thumbs-up. "Ok dude, see you tomorrow."

"Yeah," I say hastily, and walk past a dented game console as I leave the arcade. Ugh, that's when I went crazy after Geoff asked me why I…can't the lousy staff here fix that so I don't have to be reminded of punching him? Sheesh.

Now in the lobby, I head to the double doors leading outside but stop in my tracks. I should probably double check my door's locked—kinda paranoid that Courtney might be hiding in there, waiting to freakin' stab me with a knife or something.

I walk to my room and jiggle the knob—it's locked but I'm still not convinced. I jam my key in the knob and swing the door open. "Courtney, if you're in here, get out." I hope my voice doesn't sound shaky—I'm not afraid of her, just…I don't know what to expect. I check under my bed, the closet, and the bathtub—nothing. Whoo, glad she's not here.

Leaving my room, I lock my door and start to leave when I hear "Hey!" I turn to see Gwen coming from my right, waving. I smile at her and wave back. Crap, I don't wanna see her right now. She better not say 'let's hang out.' There's really no way to tell your girlfriend 'I wanna be alone' without sounding like you have problems.

"Hey," I say as she hugs me. "I thought you were with Leshawna." Why the hell isn't she with Leshawna?!

We end the hug and Gwen looks confused. "I _was_ but you said we would watch Saw 3 at 10. Did you text me another time?" She gets out her phone.

I'm blankin' out. When did I say that? It wasn't at dinner…

"We talked about it after the stupid roller skating challenge?" Gwen tries to stir my memory—I don't know what the hell she's talking about.

"Oh…yeahhh." That came out really convincing, but I really don't remember. She's not gonna let up with this, so—

"I gotta talk to DJ," I blurt out. I hate lying to Gwen but if I tell her I wanna be alone she's gonna freak and just keep asking what's wrong like she did with my knuckles.

She looks suspicious—I'm doing great. "I thought you were just with him?"

"I was," I say anxiously, searching for my next words, "but…he just texted me saying he really needs to talk, and with Geoff and Malibu sucking face, I'm the only one he's got." Lying or not, she knows that's true.

"He does?"

"Yeah, he has, uh…girlfriend problems!" Shit, why did I say that?!

"I didn't know DJ has a girlfriend." She's still doubtful but she's thinking about the reality of it and asks "Who is it? Someone on the boat?"

Boat, boat, what girl isn't hitched here yet?

"Eva!" Gwen looks horrified. "They aren't going out, but he really likes her. It's _bad._"

"DJ really likes her?" Gwen's suspicions are gone and she's genuinely curious. "That's sweet. I guess she could help him with his 'softness' but that's what makes DJ him."

"Yeah, he's head-over-heels! He can't stop thinking about the…mole on her face, or…how her pony tail swishes back and forth like a horse—and you know how Deej likes animals!" Gwen cracks up and I laugh with her cuz I'm so screwed.

"Y-you just said Eva looks like a _horse?!"_ Gwen is having a fit as her face gets red and then I laugh for real this time, wiping the tears from my eyes.

"The dude's bawling like a baby! But you know DJ, he's Mr. Sensitive—I gotta check up on him."

"You can't just call him and solve it in 2 minutes?" Her laughter fades and she looks sad. "I really wanted to spend time together." UGH, why does she have to look like that?! All pitiful and what not—dammit, Gwen! I just want some time to myself and then I promise I won't do this again.

I put my hands on her waist and draw her close, looking into her surprised eyes. "We'll hang after I talk to DJ, ok?" I silence her with a kiss and pull away to see the smile I love.

"Okay," she caves, "I get it, DJ really needs you. I won't hold up your bromance. I'll get the movie from the library, so just text me when you're done."

Before I kiss her again, I see Trent coming into the hallway. He stops in his tracks at the sight of me and Gwen. "Oh, hey Gwen…Duncan." He looks at my hands on Gwen's waist and a shadow goes across his face. Gwen feels rigid but doesn't turn around to see him. First Gwen pops up, then Trent? All I wanna do is be by myself, damn!

Gwen's words come out broken. "I'm g-gonna—get—the movie." She takes my hands off her waist and runs out the hallway, leaving me and Trent behind as he calls out "Gwen, wait up," but she's gone. He looks like someone dropped the world on his face or something.

"Dude," I say harshly, and Trent frowns. "Just give it up. You saw how she ran away—she doesn't wanna be near you." I didn't know Gwen acted that way around Trent but now that I see, I don't like it.

"What do you know anyway?" he asks sharply—woah, guitar man's got a snippy side.

I cross my arms. "Um, like the fact that you said you didn't wanna be friends with her anymore? What makes you think you can still talk to her? Leave her the hell alone."

"She told you that?"

"Uh, YEAH."

Trent shifts back and forth on his feet, looking at the floor. "I just wanted to tell her I could try."

"Too late, Elvis—obviously, Gwen doesn't wanna be friends with _you_ anymore. And if you stalk her, make her cry, or do anything to upset her, you're gonna be talking to my fist, got that?" I pound my right fist into my hand hard. I got no problem beating up Trent if it came to it—he doesn't stand a chance.

Trent looks un-phased at my threat. "Whatever, man," he says angrily, and goes into his room, closing the door with a bang.

I'm kinda cooled off after all the interruptions, but I still want time to myself. I quickly text Gwen if she's still in the library, but no answer. Guess I'll check up on her later—movie night's gonna suck thanks to Mr. Can't-Move-On.

I leave the hallway and in a couple of seconds I'm back at the top deck, leaning over the railing once more and staring at the dark ocean. It really sucks I keep coming up here, and both times it's been cuz of Courtney. I'm not the kinda guy that sits and 'reflects' but it's turning out that way.

I gingerly touch my slap mark and wince—I should get some ice on that. The image of Courtney slapping my face while I just stood there like a freakin' dummy creates a taste like lead in my mouth. I know I shouldn't have hinted because of her nagging ways and Courtney being Courtney was the reason I cheated on her—it's true, but it came out _wrong._ And she humiliated me, made me look like a wimp in front of everyone! I felt disrespected. What man allows themselves to get slapped?!

My hands grab on to the railing and tightly grip the bar, turning my knuckles white. Out of all our fights, not once did she hit me, and I never hit her. No matter how much Courtney pushed me over the edge, which was like every day, hitting her never crossed my mind—I couldn't. But I can't believe she hates me so much that she actually slapped me. Like I can't get over it. Would she have done it if we were still together? And she was going for another slap too, but I was too stunned to move—I don't even know what I would've done.

The weird thing about that fight was Trent and Sierra were dragging Courtney away. Since when do they care about her? They were with her when we came in Sierra's room—I guess she's gotta be friends with someone since she doesn't have any. And what's up with Justin going goo-goo over her? Hah, that's gonna fizzle out quick when she'll just stomp all over him and give him some stupid relationship contracts to follow. And then he asked Bridgette what all her favorite things were? The man's freakin' whipped—he's in for some pain.

The lead in my mouth gets stronger as Courtney's painful face pops in my head, the face that resulted from me saying no one would put up with her shit. I've never seen that look on her face before, _ever._ Not when she was angry or cried. This was like—she looked so—ugh, I don't know. Dammit, she looked broken. Frail. Devastated. Crushed. All those things—not the Courtney I know…or knew. I didn't think she could ever look like that.

I tilt my head up to the dark sky, my eyes piercing the stars. Geoff better not bring this fight up or I might hit him for real this time. Like I would ever tell him, or _anyone_, that I cheated on Courtney because I couldn't take her anymore. I wanted to be my own person, do whatever the hell I wanted to do—I don't follow rules, I break them, and she wasn't gonna tie me down by controlling my life and trying to change me with her stupid lists. She had the wrong boyfriend if she thought I was gonna do what she said—that's not me.

And not only that, I cheated on her cuz it was the _one thing_ she had no control over whatsoever, and I loved it. Cheating meant I was done with Courtney forever. I loved kissing Gwen in that confessional and I don't regret it. It was like an escape kissing her—I was free and that kiss was new; special; exhilarating. I didn't have to get Courtney's permission to kiss Gwen and I didn't need permission to cheat—I did it cuz it was the first time in a long time that I finally had control over myself.

And like I'd tell Geoff or DJ that yeah, I liked Gwen right before World Tour. True, I didn't like her for the majority of the summer after TDA when me and Courtney were off and on, or when I hung out with her, but after my huge fight with Courtney, I started falling for Gwen. We had gotten closer, she always listened to me bitch about Courtney, and I started thinking, what if I dated Gwen? What if Gwen was mine? Someone who liked me for me as corny as that sounds, someone who was freakin' hot, funny, smart, down to earth, and more importantly, wasn't trying to change me? Now we're together, and it's great! Well, except for seeing Courtney everywhere, but who cares about her?

I didn't know that summer would be the last of me and Courtney, but I should've seen it coming after that fight, which was stupid in itself. Telling me how to spend my prize money and planning our lives? She was off her rocker for real. But it's over now and I have Gwen, and that's all that matters.

My pocket vibrates and I check my phone—sweet, Gwen's got the movie. And she's ok—so she says. Forget Courtney, I'm actually gonna have fun on this boat with Gwen, and she's not gonna stop me.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Kinda picking up right?! I put more 'action' with each P.O.V. and made it longer than usual because...THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER OF THE SUMMER! :O I'm sorry, I really tried to write another chapter but I was SERIOUSLY not motivated whatsoever to write this one anyway, so another chapter was out the door. AND this chapter took a lot of revising than usual. AND I wrote Justin's and Duncan's last part when I got my wisdom teeth taken out.**

**So things about this chapter:**

** 1.) I don't care if there is a real poll of who character favorites are, I made their spots up cuz it goes with my story, ok? :P**

**2.) The song Trent's singing is Count On Me by Bruno Mars**

**Things coming up:**

**What is this mysterious HUGE fight that I keep making Duncan and Courtney randomly talk about but never go into detail with? Weeelllllll...I'm making another story! Really a long one-shot, like a prequel to this story. It's going to show Duncan and Courtney's fight and what ultimately changed their relationship for the worst right before World Tour. Because I figured it's easier to SHOW you what the fight was then tell you. That way when you know what it's about, you'll understand when it's brought up later in this story. The prequel will come out before I write the chapter of Duncan and Courtney bringing up the fight in here.**

**Thanks to Malzi21 for telling off the troll! I know I already thanked you but I'm doing it again :D and thanks NTA FANFIC for your nice review too! And thank you to everyone who reviewed this story as well! It means a lot!**

**For anyone who cares: My wisdom teeth surgery went well :D Was knocked out and didn't remember a single thing! The after effects were bad, tho, I was throwing up from the pain killers I had to take-they were too strong -_-**

**SOOOOO...REVIEW CUZ IT'S THE LAST CHAPTER UNTIL 4/5 MONTHS! I wont write till December or January cuz it's my last year of college and I can't slack! So review... SHA-please? :P**

**See you all next time and thanks for reading again! =)**


	10. Chapter 8

**Gwen's P.O.V.**

The stupid sun blinding my face forces me to groggily open my eyes, and then I realize I'm on top my bed. In my clothes. Next to Duncan in his clothes. Ugh, not again. Weirdly enough, sleeping in combat boots isn't comfy. I sit up and look at Duncan sleeping in his usual hands behind his head pose, smirking like always.

"Hey Duncan," I say, rubbing my eyes. "Wanna get breakfast?" No answer. I lightly shake his shoulder. "Hey—"

His left hand suddenly grabs my arm and jerkily pulls me down on his chest, while his other hand circles my waist. I bet he can hear my heart pounding—crap.

His eyes are still closed but he's smiling. "Nah, too tired."

I try to get out of his grip but he holds on tighter, making me laugh. "Too tired, huh?" I try to wiggle free but he won't let go. And really, I don't wanna go but my stomach's killing me—and I feel gross for not showering. "C'mon, you know I need coffee."

"Just call room service."

"And I need to get out my clothes."

"I can help with that," he says playfully, now opening his eyes and grinning at me.

I use my free hand and lightly punch his face, but can't resist smiling. "Very funny. You don't have to come with me, but I want a real breakfast. And you know the room service here sucks."

He lets out a long yawn and loosens his grip on me. "Bring me back some waffles." And just like that he's back asleep. Typical.

Still smiling, I get up from the bed, grab a set of new clothes that's pretty much identical to the skirt, tights, and top I have on, and take a 15 minute shower. Once I'm done that, I comb my wet hair and am about to leave the room when I see Saw 3 sitting on my dresser. Might as well return it since we're done with it. And I could bring my sketchbook too while I'm eating—I haven't drawn anything in a while. I go in my closet, take out the sketchbook from my suitcase, grab Saw 3, and smile once more at Duncan before I close the door and head to the library.

At the library, there's a normal guy sitting at the front desk. I heard Chef was the librarian at one point, but nothing on this boat should surprise me anymore. I hand the movie to the guy who's lazily flipping through a magazine titled "The End of 2012 Is True! Kimye's Having A Baby!"

"Just returning this," I sate, placing the DVD on the desk. He says nothing and continues reading.

"Uh, you're welcome?" Still no answer.

"Whatever," I mutter, and make my way to the front door. What a jerk librarian. If I had Chef he would've at least yelled in my face. Or called me a maggot. Or—

"OWWW!" someone yells on the other side of the door after I swing it open. Oh crap, I didn't mean to hit them in the face.

"S—" I start out, but then I see Courtney vigorously rubbing her red forehead. _Great._ This is gonna be the best day ever. A rock's growing in the pit of my stomach and it's not from hunger.

"Um—" but her furious eyes cut my sentence short and leave the rest of my words jumbled in my throat.

"Now I'm gonna have a bruise. Thanks, _Gwen_," she sneers. She stops rubbing her head and looks me up and down disapprovingly.

What's with that look? "Sorry," I manage to get out, stepping aside to let her through. I'm definitely not in the mood to fight right now, and she keeps staring at me! I've done nothing wrong—but slam a door in her face, but still! It wasn't on purpose.

Instead, she crosses her arms and stays in place, trying to murder me in every way possible she can with her eyes. Now I'm bracing myself for a fight and meet her eyes with the same intensity.

"What?" I snap. "I've done nothing to you! What's your problem?"

"You!" she points an accusing finger at me. "As if 'sorry' fixes everything, which it does _not_. Who knows how long this bump is gonna last on my forehead?!"

"You have legs, get some ice," I snarkily reply.

"Exactly my point! You'll do something and won't even follow up on it!"

"_What _are you talking about?!" Courtney's definitely lost it.

"You two really _are_ alike, you know that?" I know she's talking about Duncan and I grit my teeth.

"What's he got to do with anything?!" I lash out. "All you do is pick fights for no reason. I say sorry and you still bite my head off!"

She gives a short, haughty laugh, and glares at me. "You're just like him! 'Sorry' for cheating and 'sorry' for hitting you with a door, but you're not really sorry. You two just continue through life wrecking stuff and don't even bother to check up on the damage you've done to other people!"

Really? She really went there? I'm not dealing with this.

I shove her aside, shaking with anger, and walk down the hallway towards the dining hall. "Where are you going?!" she yells.

"Somewhere to save my sanity!" The library door closes with a bang loud enough to wake the dead. Courtney overreacting isn't new, but now it's on another level I can't _stand_.

Luckily, the dining hall's empty so I can vent and sulk in silence. I sit at a center table after brewing my black coffee and getting some pancakes and bacon from a waiter. Before I even start my sulking, Bridgette, Lindsay, Beth, Tyler, Noah, Owen, and Eva all come in the room. There goes my alone time.

"Gweeeeen!" Owen happily sings, giving me a tight bear hug that makes me gag. "Haven't seen ya in forever! It's kinda funny that Duncan's not with you."

"Oh, he's just sleeping," I respond, trying to hide my moodiness.

Bridgette sits next to me with her plate as the others get their food. "You're such a morning person," she teases. Can't fool her.

"You know it," I say, attempting to grin. "So what've you been up to? Besides making out with Geoff, that is." I don't even bother to hide my laughter as Bridgette gives me a knowing look, but then smiles.

"Trying to find clues until Blaineley ruined everything. Do you really think her plan's gonna go through?"

I shrug. "Don't know, it's hard to say."

The rest then come over to the table. Noah sits really close to Bridgette who frowns, scooting away. Owen has a whole plate of sausage, bacon, waffles, pancakes, bagels, croissants, and 5 glasses of milk. "This boat is amazing!" he says in awe. "An all you can eat buffet AND the swirliest water slide EVER?! I'm never leaving!"

"And they have TONS of spas!" Lindsay adds, clapping her hands. "It's like the boat I've always wanted!"

Beth gasps. "If you win the million instead of me next season, can you buy this boat?"

"Well, duh! It's so nice to have people wait on you hand and finger!"

"You mean hand and foot," Bridgette corrects.

"Oh no that's silly," Lindsay says, shaking her head. And the winner of the Dumbest Blonde Award goes to…Lindsay.

"I don't think the waiters come with the boat," pipes in Tyler, scratching his head.

"So," I start, changing the quickly approaching brain cell killing conversation, "has anyone else found any clues? I've found 2 already."

Eva's voice is harsh as she pounds the table. "What does it matter? Your _boyfriend_ is trying to make me lose! I'm finding Blaineley before he does!" She's gripping her glass cup with her free hand and it's starting to crack. I do_ not_ wanna be drenched in orange juice. Everyone looks scared except Noah, who pats her arm comfortingly. "Woah there, hold your horses."

I start busting out loud while everyone looks at me quizzically—except for Owen who's devouring his food and Eva who looks like she wants to pummel me. "What's so funny goth girl?"

I instantly stop laughing. "N-nothing." Like I would tell her Duncan compared her to a horse.

Noah continues to pat Eva's arm while she's still seething at me, her cup still cracking. "C'mon, use those skills you learned in anger management. You can only get mad 4 times a day. You really wanna waste it now?" Only 4 times a day? That doesn't sound exactly helpful, but what do I know?

I sigh after she calms down and releases her hand from the cup—good to know I won't have to take another shower.

Owen slurps up the last of his food. "You haven't seen Izzy, have you Gwen? She wasn't in her room this morning and isn't answering her phone."

"I don't think it's unlike her—it's Izzy. Maybe she's…swinging off a vine somewhere?"

"Nutsy will be fine," Noah says, waving his hand. "She'll show up soon."

Owen looks doubtful. "I hope so."

Tyler stands up with a clean plate. "Hey guys, wanna play badminton? I haven't played since—"

"You hit yourself in the kiwis with your racket after tripping over your shoelaces in high school?" grunts Eva.

"No! Since I played badminton at my friend's farm and these ch—chickens came outta nowhere and started p-p-pecking me and beating me upside the head with my racket." His eyes are glossy and shivers.

"Wow. That's…that's sad," Bridgette says in wonder. It really is.

"Sure, I'll play!" Lindsay stands up, oblivious to Tyler's whimpering.

"Me too!" Beth adds, and they make their way towards the gym.

Noah smiles at Bridgette. "Wanna play too, Bridgette?"

She shrugs. "Sure, why not?" Noah looks weirdly brighter but then frowns when she asks, "Are you coming, Gwen?"

"I'm good." I pick up my sketchbook. "I haven't drawn in a while so go without me." Bridgette nodes and grabs Tyler's hands. "C'mon, I'll walk you over." He's still paralyzed with fear as they leave the room. Eva runs after them, yelling, "You're all getting CRUSHED!" Noah just shakes his head and follows her with Owen.

Phew, I'm finally alone. After drinking half my coffee and all my pancakes I open my sketchbook. I almost forgot all the stuff I drew in here—my backyard, my brother playing Xbox, DJ's bunny, Trent on his guitar—

Oh. Trent.

His face hypnotizes me. That was during TDI days. Should I rip it out? He made it crystal clear he doesn't wanna be friends anymore. Or even try. Aw crap, I can feel the tears coming up. I angrily brush them away, but my sketchbook's still fuzzy. The silent tears roll down my face as I bore at Trent's picture. I should've seen it coming—it was so awkward at the pool party and yet I still invited him to find clues together because I thought we could start over and get past the weirdness. And yesterday I just couldn't face him when he came in the hallway with me and Duncan. I didn't wanna show how much he hurt me that day. Or hurts me now. In a fit of rage I rip out Trent's picture and crunch it into a tiny ball, flinging it into oblivion, shakily breathing. I don't have any more connections with him now…no phone number, no pictures, no photos, and it feels…good. And I've stopped crying, too. I guess throwing that away was a load off.

I stare at the empty page in front of me, thinking what I could draw to get my mind off of Trent. Something to calm me down. Duncan. I could draw my new life with him, now. I can't believe I haven't drawn him yet, actually. It could be his birthday present or something. I begin to draw his face, and for the first time today, start to loosen up. Waking up today was great—hitting Courtney in the head was not. Ugh, does she not have anything better to do then attack me every chance she gets? I try to stay out her way but I keep running into her. And then yesterday she actually _slapped_ Duncan. Courtney's crazy, but I didn't think she'd really do that! But I'm glad Duncan didn't hit her back because that would've been a chaotic mess even I couldn't clean up. And…he really shouldn't have said those things to her—he knows Courtney's a ticking time bomb!

My pencil then outlines his eyes. She doesn't even think I feel bad, but I do! I didn't plan to take Duncan away from her. I never thought it would happen! I was resisting all this time, trying to keep Courtney happy and my feelings hidden, but then in the confessional…he looked at me totally different, staring at me 'til he grabbed my hand, coming closer and closer, and then something clicked where I just couldn't resist him anymore, and I knew he felt the same too. My head was spinning and I just _really_ liked that kiss! I didn't even think he liked me back until he said, "Every time I ran from the cops, I thought of you," and looked at me with those…teal eyes…ahh, snap out of it!

Just thinking about that stuff has my face burning. When did I get so girly? I finish up Duncan's famous smirk and head over to his neckline. I agree it wasn't the best way to get with him, but I can't change what happened. What's done is done, even if…some people hate me for it. I can't take the hate—I just wanna get off this stupid boat! Courtney's done a great job of making me feel lousy. I don't know if I can ever make it up to her. She'd be happy if I killed myself—I'm pretty sure that's what she wants.

My charcoal breaks in half—great. Good thing I brought a spare. I drink some more coffee and continue drawing. Duncan makes me happy, though. We're so similar and have the same sense of humor—it's nice dating your best friend. So cliché, but now I know why people say that. Again, I repeat: when did I get so girly?

I pick up my cup but realize there's no more coffee left, so I get up to refill it. I also get some pancakes to take up to Duncan and some muffins for myself. He asked for waffles but Owen used all the batter. I turn around but then drop all the food in my hands—

My sketchbook's gone.

I search the room frantically, but it's obvious no one's here. Who took it that quick? The charcoal's still on the table, though. Guess they thought that was useless.

Heart almost pounding out my ribcage, I dash out the dining hall—they couldn't have gone that far. Please, please, please, please, _please_ don't be Courtney!

I start running down a random hallway and see Sadie and Katie coming towards me, gossiping.

"I can't decide who's hotter, Justin or Trent?" Katie gushes.

"They're both so yummy! And Justin's butt…oooooooh!"

"But Trent's butt is way better!"

"Uh, hello Katie, Justin is a model!"

"So? Trent's a musician!"

"So is Justin!"

"You call playing the tambourine a talent?"

"Oh, so whistling out of your nose is a talent too?"

"You never said you hated my nose whistling!"

I clear my throat and they stop their arguing. "Have you guys seen someone carrying a sketchbook?"

Sadie shakes her head. "No, but…" Her voice gets fan-girly high pitched. "You've dated Trent before! Is his butt toned?!"

I'm sure my face is red before I lie, "I-I wouldn't know," and run right past them. Creeper much? I turn the corner and stop dead in my tracks.

Trent's snooping though my book.

I can't even think—I don't even know _what _to think, but I'm getting that panicky feeling like I'm claustrophobic. He's flipping through the pages like it's nothing and I'm standing right here!

"_What_ are you _doing_?!" I confront him, and that's when he finally notices me—and he's embarrassed.

He hastily shuts the book and calls my name, but the ringing in my ears muffle out the rest of his words as I lunge towards him and snatch the book from his hands.

"Why did you steal my book?!" I scream, glaring into his scared eyes and clutching the book to my chest like it's my lifeline. Is he crazy? "Are you crazy?!"

All I hear is my shallow breath as Trent takes 3 steps towards me with hesitation while I simultaneously take 3 steps back. "I-I didn't steal it!" he insists, but all the while looking guilty. "You'd think I'd really do that?"

"Oh sure," I snap, while Trent's still playing the dummy. "I got up from my seat to get more food in the dining hall, and when I turned around, it was gone! And then in less than 2 minutes I see you with it! How do you explain that?"

"I swear, I didn't even know it was yours!" He shifts his gaze from my eyes to the book and frowns. "I just saw it here on the floor."

"Yeah, right."

"It's the truth!" he protests—horribly. I know exactly why he stole it, too.

"You just can't get over that we broke up!"

That probably wounds Trent more than it shows. His face gets dark and he knows I'm right. "You saw me drawing Duncan and stole my book! I know you're jealous but that's just low."

Trent narrows his eyes at me. "I might be jealous of Duncan—"

"No, you _are_ jealous of Duncan—"

"Whatever," he says, trying to shut me up. "But I'd never do something like this…even if…you do draw millions of pictures of Duncan." His shuddering at that last part says it all.

I tighten my grip on the book and accuse lowly, "You just can't see that I'm happy and moved on."

"That's totally not true!" he counters, but I know he's lying. "I want you to be happy but—"

"Not with Duncan," I finish for him sharply.

"Of course not with Duncan!" He shouts it like it's the most obvious thing in the world. Now he's on a rampage and paces back and forth as I continue thinking how I wanna kill him. "He's ruthless, a complete jerk, and you LIKE him?!"

I've _had_ it. What gives him the right to attack Duncan like this? "You don't even know him!" My throat's hoarse and feels like it's on fire. "You don't even know what he's like!"

"I know he's no good for you and will break your heart," Trent says with equal intensity as my voice. "If he cheated on Courtney he'll cheat on you too!"

Those words tell me we're done. My whole body tenses up and I turn away from him, walking and barking behind me, "I'm not putting up with you dissing him because you're jealous!" All I can focus on is getting as far away from Trent as possible.

He runs up beside me but I don't wanna look at him. We're done with this stupid conversation! Stop following me!

His voice is semi-apologetic. "Hey, look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that, but that's not what I wanna talk about. What I've been meaning to tell you since yesterday is—"

I shove him strongly away from me, still walking, and catch his upset eyes. "I don't wanna hear you bash Duncan anymore."

He abruptly grabs my left wrist and yanks me to a halt, but I violently try to break from his tight grip, still avoiding his eyes by looking straight ahead. "Let—me—go!"

"C'mon," he says fiercely, "just hear me out!"

I continue to shake my wrist away from him and then turn around to meet his distressed face, but before I can tell him that I never wanna speak to him ever again, Leshawna appears from the other corner of the hallway, humming a song, and stops when she sees the scene.

"Trent, I know you ain't hurting Gwen!" she says loudly, walking towards us with her hands on her hips and giving Trent the evil eye.

His hands loosen their grip on me and I jerk my arm away from him, glancing at my wrist. At least it isn't red. I can tell he's not sure what to do now that Leshawna's here. Whatever anger Trent had is gone because he's now anxious. "No! No, it's not that. I just wanted to talk to her—"

"That sure didn't look like talking to me," Leshawna cuts him off. "Now unless you want your guitar to mysteriously go overboard, stop bothering Gwen."

Trent lets out a defeated sigh and looks at me with sadness, but all I feel is rage as I turn my head away from him.

"Sorry for being harsh," he mutters, and then walks past me, his hands in his pockets, and disappears around the left corner.

"Are you alright?" Leshawna asks with concern, but I let out a deep groan and push myself against the wall, sliding slowly to the floor. I fling my sketchbook to the other wall in front of me, bring my legs up, and bury my head in my knees.

I think Leshawna's sitting across from me because I hear her plop down on the floor, too. "It's gonna be ok," she soothes.

"No it's not," I muffle. "I'm cranky, I'm miserable, I hate Trent, and all I wanna do is rip my hair out, let it re-grow, and then rip it out again because that's how screwed up this whole thing is!"

"Why were you fighting with him anyway?"

"Because he stole my sketchbook. With Duncan in it." I look up warily at her and meet her shocked face. "I was drawing Duncan in the dining hall, I went to get food, and when I came back it was gone. And then minutes later he has it but denies it! What am I supposed to believe when my sketchbook is in his hands and he told me the other day he's jealous of Duncan? And then he said Duncan's ruthless and would cheat on me!"

"Girl, that's messed up!"

"I know!" I wail. "You know how much I wanna be friends with Trent, but he's acting so stupid! I'm done. I'm seriously done with him! If he's acting like this, it's over. And to make this day even better than it already is, I slammed Courtney's face with the library door! She went all psycho-crazy on me when I apologized. If you have any sympathy, stab me in the neck with a knife. She'll worship you forever."

"I'm saving that for Heather," Leshawna tries to joke, but I'm not laughing. She sighs deeply. "I know it's not easy being on this boat with Trent the Fool and Courtney the Cactus—"

Ha, that's a good one.

"—but you got me to help you deal with it!"

"I know, but it doesn't make me feel exactly great that Courtney hates me. Like, _really_ hates me. She's being a total brat! Every chance she can find she brings up me and Duncan and it sucks!"

Leshawna arches an eyebrow. "Uh, you know you stole Duncan from her."

"Leshawna!" She can't be serious! I put my head back in between my knees.

"You gotta own up to it," she puts plainly. "No matter how much you sugar coat it, you stole another girl's man. You can't hide from the truth, girl. Don't tell me you don't remember when Heather and Trent kissed on the dock in TDI?"

As if my heart couldn't sink any lower from when she said I stole Duncan, it just plummeted 3,000 feet. "Yeahhhhh…."

"It's the same thing!" she exclaims. "Gwen you better look at me." I grudgingly lift my head up and look at her stern eyes. Why do I feel like a little kid being scolded by their mom? "You thought Trent was foolin' around and you got hurt. You know darn well what Courtney feels like cuz you felt it too."

Her words sting me deep, puncturing my bruised heart even more. I'm trying to ignore this dry feeling in my mouth but it won't go away, and I feel clammy. Me and Leshawna have a staring contest showdown, not uttering a single word.

She finally breaks the silence and gives a stupid attempt to smile which fails to lift my mood. "Bottom line, I'm happy that you're happy, even if it's with that punk. I'm just saying y'all could've gotten together a _whole_ lot better than you did. I bet you didn't even tell her sorry."

Oh. 'Sorry'. The same word that got Courtney to freak out on me. "'Hey Courtney, sorry I kissed your boyfriend and liked it and ruined our almost friendship. Oh, you forgive me? Now I can sleep knowing we're besties and you cut off all your plans to murder me. Thanks.' Yeah, not gonna happen."

"Even if she doesn't accept it, you'll be the bigger person and maybe won't be called the New Heather anymore." I cringe at that name. I am _not _Heather! She then half-laughs. "And girl, you need to step up your apology skills. What kinda apology was that?!"

"Only the best apology in the world," I answer sarcastically.

"Gwen, you know I got your back when dealing with Courtney or anyone." I give her a small smile. "That whiny, bratty, wanna-be Judge Judy needs to be put in her place."

"Thanks, Leshawna." I hope she hears how sincere I am. We both stand up from the floor and she returns my sketchbook.

"Anytime. Oh, and one more thing." She looks at me slyly and I cock my head in question. "Tell Duncan to stop pranking Harold. He replaced the inside of his toothpaste tube with glue."

Hmmm. "You like Harold again, don't you?"

Her mouth twitches and averts her eyes to her nails casually—but not casual enough because I know her too well. "Me and Harold are over. What gave you that idea?"

"You care too much about what Duncan does to him."

"There's no crime in caring about your friend." She walks past me, laughing it off. "C'mon, let's go to your room and put that book away before Trent steals it again."

"Whatever you say," I joke, and catch up to her.

**Courtney's P.O.V.**

"Courtney, my legs are seriously turning into jelly from all this walking," comes Sierra's exasperated voice as she collapses on the movie theater's dark and dirty floor.

I keep pacing through the row of velvet red chairs, trying to find Blaineley cowering underneath them. "We can't give up now! If we find her first before Leshawna she'll make the competition back to normal again. I thought you'd care more that Cody's not gonna be with you next season, since you're safe after all."

_That _get's her attention. She snaps her head up from the floor and says menacingly, "NEVER—question—how much I care about Cody. NEVER! I'm just tired, ok?!" I'm glad she still has some fighting spirit in her left—which is good because we're falling behind!

Cody falls into one of the chairs, yawning. "Face it, she's not even on the boat. We've spent all morning looking in the spas, bowling alley, skating rink, shops, and now we've hit a dead end. And why would she be hiding anyway? She doesn't even know we figured her out."

I glare at both of them but they're so tired they don't even notice. It figures I'm the only one who cares about this stupid scavenger hunt being flawed. It's insulting to think I'm winning by _default_ because I'm in the bottom! I'm winning this thing because I _earned_ it and that's how it's gonna be!

"Chef probably told her the minute we left the security room," I snap. "He, Blaineley, and Chris are trying to corrupt this show and I won't allow it! If you guys are tired I'll just find her myself."

"Cool, I'll just head over to the pool," Cody says a little too eagerly to my liking, springing up quick from his seat while I eye him down, but like a cheetah Sierra stands up from the floor in a flash and grabs Cody's right arm, yanking him to her chest, much to his chagrin.

"I got a better idea!" Sierra squeals with a creepy glint in her eye. "Let's all take a break and do something fun! Liiiiiiike, watch Cody's birthing video!"

"WHAT?!" Cody frantically outbursts as I bend over laughing, holding my sides together. She's a maniac! She reaches under her hat and pulls out a CD case. "SIERRA! How did you…where did you—"

"My life began when Cody Emmett Jameson Anderson was born 18 years ago on April 1st at 9:45 a.m.," Sierra says tearfully, clutching the visibly red and scared Cody tighter to her chest. "Your mom screaming, 'GET THIS THING OUTTA ME' was my favorite part! OH-EM-GEE, no no no, my favorite part was when you popped out and your dad was looking at the nurse holding you and then you peed right in his face! So much pee from such a cute little wee-wee—"

"You know what pee reminds me of? The water! And you know what has lots of water? The pool! Let's go—NOW!" Cody covers Sierra's mouth and drags her out the theater as her protesting words are subdued by his hand. At least he's asserting his authority over her for once. Maybe he's not such a lost cause after all.

I look around the empty theater and let out and irked sigh. Where else can I look for her? I refuse to believe Chef hasn't told her yet—of course she knows! She's acting a lot smarter than she looks.

Out of nowhere, my pocket vibrates, causing me to jump. Oh, my PDA. I whip it out and see it's a text from Bridgette:

_Hey, wanna go on the surf simulator now if ur not busy? Im playing badminton and totally sucking at it :P_

Hmmm, find Blaineley or waste my time taking a break?

**Sure, I'm out of leads trying to find Blaineley anyway.**

_Random qt: do you like mangos?_

What's she trying to get at?** Um, no I do not. WHY?**

And now she suspiciously doesn't respond. What is with her? That question was too out the blue. We're not that close anymore but…something's going on and I demand to know! But I can't complain too much. Even though she's being sneaky, seeing her is a nice change of pace as opposed to being around Sierra, Cody, and Trent all the time.

Exiting the theater, I walk down a long hallway and turn 3 corners to get to my room. I grab the gray bathing suit I always wear in Total Drama, and then make my way to the main deck. The air smells like sea salt and calms me down—not that I'm stressed but the atmosphere's relaxing. The sky's blue, there's clouds, and more importantly, no one's up here. I make my way to the surf simulator which is in the middle of the deck's landing, and sit on its white border, waiting for Bridgette, watching the clear, cerulean waves quietly lap under the blue and yellow striped surf board that's lying peacefully in its resting zone. Finally, she emerges from the double doors in her usual body suit and smiles. "Long time no see!"

I return the smile and wave. "Yeah, I know. I'm surprised you texted me."

Her voice sounds a little off as she walks towards me. "We haven't hung out in a while and I felt kinda bad." Oh. That makes me fully aware we're not as close as we used to be. I guess I could've asked her to hang out too, but I wasn't focused on it. Or just didn't miss her as much.

"Well, we're here now," I say happily, trying to cloud over the awkwardness I sense brewing. And now my voice changes to a tone of suspicion. "Why did you ask me if I liked mangos?"

"Oh, Geoff's conducting a survey to see what foods he should have for future parties," she responds nonchalantly, finally at the simulator. As if I believe that downright, outrageous, lie, but I let it slide. Grabbing the surfboard, she jumps out the water and walks up the little stairs on the side leading to the head of the simulator and steps her feet in, placing the board at the top of it while the rest of the wall slopes downward with rushing water into a medium sized pool, where the waves lap backward. Positioning herself on the board with her arms outstretched, Bridgette surfs down, keeping her balance as the current runs against her. I then join her with the blue and green striped surfboard lying on the left of the machine, laughing the whole time. I guess we're getting our rhythm back.

After about 45 minutes of surfing perfectly, we then go into the jacuzzi next to the machine, also on the landing, under Bridgette's suggestion. Oooh, the jets hitting my back feel soooooo gooooood.

Bridgette starts the conversation. "I wanted to hang out because I didn't know if you were ok from yesterday. Y'know, the whole Duncan thing."

An involuntary shiver runs down my back and my elated mood instantly turns sour.

"Of course I'm ok!" I bristle up. "He's the last thing on my mind!"

Bridgette doesn't believe me—her eyes show it but I try to look as innocently as I can.

"Okaayyyy," she sing-songs. "I can't believe you slapped Duncan! As much as you guys fought I didn't think you'd ever hit each other. But he totally deserved it—what he said was beyond rude."

"Yeah, slapping him was definitely empowering," I smirk, ignoring another shiver.

"Soooo, what happened after Trent and Sierra took you out the room?"

"I beat both of them at ping-pong and played music with Trent. And then—" I shiver this time from revulsion, "—Justin ate dinner with us. He has to be the only idiot who can't tell the difference between an insult and a compliment! I called him a blockhead and a simpleton but he just smiled at me with those creepy fake eyes! And all throughout dinner he wrote in this stupid notepad. I bet he was reminding himself to re-shape his eyebrows because they're starting to look like caterpillars."

"You're totally exaggerating!" But Bridgette's laughing with me. "He's…really not that bad of a guy, though."

I look at her like she just told me to go out with Justin. Because that's basically what she implied. "You're saying I should give him a _chance_?!"

"No, but…" she's fumbling for words. "…yeah, but….ah, I don't know. He's an ok guy. You could be friendly, cordial, something!"

She's acting weird. First the mango text then this? "Why are you on Justin's side?" I say suspiciously but she's not cracking. "He's way too pushy! And even if he wasn't…NO!"

She merely shrugs like I'm blowing everything out of proportion. "He could be a useful ally."

How did _that_ idea enter her brain? I roll my eyes. "An ally if I ever wanted to co-write The Playboy's Guide To Being A Dummy. I'll stick to law school."

Bridgette shrugs again. "Your call. By the way, I think it's cool your friends with Trent and Sierra."

"They're not as bad as I normally thought," I state. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but…I can get used to Sierra's over the top energy and…Trent's not that much of a loser—he is when he's mopey, though," I add quickly. "And Cody's not bad either."

"Speaking of 'friends,'" Bridgette air quotes, grinning slyly, "do you still have a crush on Alejandro?"

She thought that would catch me off guard but it doesn't as I return her sly gaze. "Not. At. All."

"Really? Because you fell for him _hard_ in World Tour. And plus, you said he was the best player of the game. In some weird way, I think you liked that."

"You got fooled just as much as I did!" I remind her and she blushes.

"Well, everyone did! He was so smooth and cool until we found out he was evil. But I still think you like him."

"Look," I say, now giving her a smug grin, "I don't like that dead-donkey anymore. I admit he played the game better than anyone else but that's as far as it goes. He was something to get my mind off of Duncan but it meant nothing; I never really liked him on a deeper level. And looking back at those tapes of him flirting with me, I look like a love-struck teenager! He made me look like an idiot on national television while he played me and that's something I'm never gonna forgive him for! And don't even get me started on that stupid Drama Machine. There's no future with someone who isn't physically able to take care of themselves—he'll just hold me back."

"Wow, that's brutal!" Bridgette starts cracking up but then calms herself down. "Ok, so you don't like Alejandro. But what about Duncan?"

Spider-like chills crawl all over my body. "As if!" I scoff at her excited face. "I don't even know what I saw in him!"

"C'mon, you can tell me!" Bridgette insists, widening her green eyes but I turn my face away from her. "I know we were a lot closer in TDI, but I'm here for you!"

My words come out curtly. "I most certainly DO NOT like him."

"Really?" More disbelief.

"Really."

"Uh huh."

"It's true!" I point to my bare, left arm. "I even got my heart tattoo removed after World Tour ended! I _so_ do not like him!"

"But you freak out over everything they do, even it's not to you! Like if they make out—"

"You really wanna know how I feel?" I finally erupt, looking at Bridgette's taken back face. "Do you know how aggravating it is to see the guy who broke your heart every single day while he acts like he did nothing wrong? That no matter how much you try to erase him, he's always there mocking you in your face, and then all the blame gets dumped on you? And after all of this people still have the audacity to LIKE him and treat him like some untouchable demi-god while I'm in the bottom 13?" My speech now takes on a rapid approach and I shoot out my next words like darts. "He deserves to be slapped, he deserves to be hated, and he deserves to be hurt just as much as I am!"

We're both silent, me fuming and Bridgette at a loss for words. I pierce the jacuzzi bubbles with the imaginary lasers I envision coming out of my eyes, picturing the bubbles to be the bastard's head. I held that in for so long but now I feel…lighter.

"Wow," is all Bridgette has to say, wide-eyed. That's all she has to say as the first person I've told any of this to? I know I dumped a lot of stuff on her but I expected more of a reaction. This rebuilding friendship thing is gonna take some work.

I wearily sigh. "So that's what I've been feeling. Thanks for…letting me vent." It felt so good to do that. But I know I can trust Bridgette with all of this—we may not be close but she's the most trustworthy person on the boat.

She finally speaks—about time.

"No prob! I'm always here to listen." She waves her hand like I just didn't reveal my heart and soul to her, and her face changes from shell shocked to ease. "Vent as much as you want. I really didn't know you hated Duncan that much. I actually do too—I just put up with him because of Geoff. He should've never cheated on you."

I don't wanna make a scene out of that word, so I just hold back my angry tears and say with acid, "I hate Gwen, too."

"Yeahhhh…"

"She deserves just as much anguish as I've been in!" I say defiantly, lifting up my head. "At least someone else had sense to put her in the bottom of the bottom 13. And do you know she hit me in the head and caused this bruise?"

Bridgette mumbles something about "that explains breakfast."

"What? I can't hear you."

"Nothing," she quickly says. "Anyway, you have a right to be mad at both of them, but I think it's time to move on. It's already been a few months since the whole thing happened."

Trent's words from yesterday echo in my head: _Maybe you should take your own advice and move on too!_ Ugh, both he and Bridgette don't know what they're talking about. I'm trying and it's hard!

"Don't you think I want to?" I snobbishly reply. "I told you, they're everywhere! Seeing them makes me wanna vomit."

"I think you should try and date someone else," Bridgette suggests. Then her eyes start sparkling. "I'll find you someone! Then you won't give me crap for making out with Geoff so much!"

My stomach churns. "Y-you don't need to find me anyone! Plus, I have too long of an expectation list. You'll never find someone who meets all the criteria." I know for a fact she couldn't.

But Bridgette has determination in her face. "Your list needs some major tweaking, and I'm gonna help you. It's settled—I'm finding you a boyfriend! You said you don't like Duncan right?"

More chills. "_No_."

"Or anyone else?"

"Nope."

"Alright!" she pumps her fist in the air. "This guy's gonna be 100% Courtney-approved!"

I should be happy. I should be happy. Dammit, I wanna be happy!

But a pair of teal eyes lingers in my head.

**Justin's P.O.V.**

The cashier hands me my bag. "Here's your gift, Justin."

I didn't know we were on a first name basis. I lean forward to read his name tag and squint. "Thanks…_Chad_. I'll catch you on the flip side." He points his finger at me and winks and I do the same before I turn around. This is gonna be the perfect gift for Courtney! Now I just have to find her. Should I make her a card? Nah, I'm not good at making things from scratch—arts and crafts is not my style. Last time I did paper- mâché I got a rash on my arm— never _again_. I can't afford to get a rash using foreign paper products that aren't approved by my agent.

"Hey Justin! What's in the bag?" Leshawna's voice startles me and I see her and Eva come into the shop, walking towards me. That's funny—I thought they hated each other. Oh right, they teamed up to make sure Blaineley keeps the competition rigged. Being frenemies seems to be the trend in Total Drama, and so far, it's working great!

"It's a surprise for Courtney." I place my left hand over the opening of the bag from Eva's peering eyes. Back off man hands!

Leshawna chuckles. "You're still crushing on her? If that ain't dedication I don't know what is."

"She's gonna have to give in eventually! C'mon, who can resist this face? I know I can't." I whip out the mirror from my pocket and wink at my reflection. Handsome as always!

Eva and Leshawna give each other looks. They don't even agree with me! I _have_ lost my edge…

"Blaineley's room wasn't near the ice skating rink like you said," Eva says gruffly, snapping me out of my paranoia about my looks.

I stuff the mirror back in my pocket and beam. "What reason would I have to lie? I'm in the same boat with you! I want a free pass to Season 5 too—I must've confused her room with something else." Eva looks like she's gonna eat me alive but I keep beaming, hiding the fact that she's intimidating me.

Leshawna breaks the forming tension. "How'd you buy Courtney's present anyway? We all thought we were going back on the island, not a trip to the mall."

"I don't have money—I promised Chad over there I'd take him to Hawaii if he gave me what I wanted."

Leshawna loops her arm with mine and bats her eyes. "Hey honeypie, we're friends, right? You wouldn't mind taking me to your hometown one day? Say, after we got off this boat?"

"Yeah yeah, no problem," I say smoothly and she shrieks in happiness. "Buuuut, you're gonna have to pay for your own ticket." And just like that her happiness is gone and she un-loops her arm from mine.

"Don't you have your own private jet?" she asks defensively.

"I do, but gas ain't no joke, sister."

Her mouth hangs open. "You're expecting _me_ to pay for a jet?"

"$2,500 round trip isn't so bad."

"You know what, forget it!" she shakes her head. "I know we're cool and all, but that's just wrong."

Eva snickers while Leshawna raises an eyebrow. Before she can open her mouth to give Eva a piece of her mind, Geoff peeks his head into the store and cuts in.

"Dudes! We're throwing a gnarly party in the mini-golf room right _now_! We got balloons, sparkling spiked and non-spiked cider, and bangin' music! So get your butts over there and have some fun! Later!" He runs away but then backtracks in less than a second. "Oh yeah, Justin, bring your camera in case we see Blaineley so we can get her to confess on tape. Later!" And he's off again.

The 2 girls stare me down while I nervously smile. Thanks, _Geoff_.

"I knew it! You're on their side!" Eva accuses, her neck beginning to bulge.

"No I'm not!" If I was them I'd believe me! I sound convincing!

"Then why are you helping Geoff and them unrig this?" Leshawna demands.

Should I tell them about helping Courtney? "I'm making them _believe_ I'm helping them. You know, that whole keep your friends close but your enemies closer thing." They're not buying it and continue to icily stare at me. I start backing out the store. "Well ladies, it's been nice chatting but now I gotta—"

"Get your camera so you can be a traitor? Do you know what I do to traitors?!" Eva punches her fist hard and I gulp. I can't let those man hands give me any more deformities!

"Maybe you can show me sometime when it's not a threat against me, but I exfoliate at 7:30 every day, and what do you know, it's 7:30. Bye!" I dash out the store and run to my left, checking to see if they're behind me—nope. Phew, that was a close one! I take the elevator to the 3rd floor, run to my room at the end of the hall, stuff my camera in my other pocket, and run down the stairs to the 2nd floor to the mini-golf room. I know I'm at the right place even before I get to the door because I can see the golf courses through the glass walls, and plus, The Wanted's "Glad You Came" is put on full blast.

I walk in and look around—Geoff really knows his stuff! The whole room's dark with green, red, blue, orange, and yellow lights bouncing off the walls from a disco light on the ceiling, balloons of every color are floating around, and there's streamers on the wall. And the mini golf course is awesome—and huge! There's a couple of shallow little lakes, a windmill course, lots of fake felted grass, benches for people to sit on, a Slip-N-Slide, a moon bounce, and an ice cream truck— where the heck did Geoff find _that_ at? I'm pretty sure that didn't come with the room.

Geoff immediately comes out of nowhere and wraps his arm around my neck while his other hand's carrying a red cup. "Glad you came, dude! Get it? Cuz of the song?"

"Yeah, this is some party! Now I finally get the chance to come to one! Remember I couldn't go to the one you hosted after TDI cuz I had my _American Eagle_ photo shoot?"

"You missed one awesome night, bro, but listen! We got drinks in the back with Katie and Sadie managing the table, an ice cream truck where you can get as much as you want, and if you wanna request a song, tell Alejandro or Heather who's in the back over there with the sound system, they'll hook you up. So PAR-TAY OOOOOOONNNNNN!" He downs the rest of whatever he's drinking, no doubt the spiked cider, and sashays off to hole #5 with Bridgette, Gwen, Duncan, DJ, and Leshawna. Courtney should be here too—if not, I'll have fun for a bit before I give her my gift.

I scan the area and see she's at hole #9 with Trent, Sierra, and Cody. I look to my right and see a row of golf clubs peeking out from a closet. After grabbing a club and a red ball, I make my way over to Courtney.

Sierra, who's finished putting, sees me and gets super hyper. "JUSTIIIIIIIIN! Come and join us, we got room!"

Trent and Cody greet me while Courtney abruptly turns around and gives me a hostile look, putting her hands on her hips. I love when she looks like that!

"If you join you'll just ruin the outcome of the game!" She walks towards me and shoves the scorecard under my nose. "I'm winning with 20 points, Sierra has 25, Trent has—"

Sierra snatches the card from an incredulous Courtney and rips it in half, saying cheerfully, "We'll just get a new card and start from the beginning! That way Cody-kins has a chance to not be last!"

"NOOO!" Courtney—and Trent? —protest at the same time.

"9's my lucky number! I know for sure I'd get a hole in one!"

"It completely violates the rules of fairness, sportsmanship—"

"It's ok Courtney," I step in, "I know you'll be in first place again." I shine my radiating teeth at her, which fills up half the room, but then stop when Cody yells, "I'm gonna be blind before I'm 20!"

"Oh, before I forget." I hand Courtney the bag but she doesn't take it. I know she'll like it! I followed Harold's advice after all. I'm anticipating her shining face, a hug, and a kiss on the mouth if I'm lucky…a kiss on the cheek is ok too, but I'm trying to reach high! "Read the paper at the top of the bag, first."

"No."

"But it's really good!"

"_No_."

"Ok, I'll read it for you." She's so cute when she's stubborn! "From me, to you, Courtney:

'Nothing is your fault

Someone should slice Duncan's face

Cuz he's a meanie

I wanna punch him

But I really really can't

I'm a hand model

Your yelling is bad

It shattered my mirror bad

No more sexy time

Here is a panda

It is a purple panda

I hope you like it'"

"You gave me a _panda_ as a _gift_?!" she says dumbfounded, snatching the bag from my hand and pulling out the small, purple and white stuffed animal underneath the tissue paper. She holds it away from her like it has rabies—can they even get those?

"I couldn't find a teddy bear in the store, and panda's are kinda like bears, right? And purple's your favorite color, so it's perfect!"

"I—HATE—pandas!" Her nose scrunches up like she smelled rotten eggs, and throws it back in the bag.

"What's wrong with pandas?" Are pandas not part of the bear family?

"For starters, they're the laziest animals on the planet! All they do is eat bamboo and sleep. Bamboo has low nutrients so they need to consume a lot to get energy, but they're stupid because they can eat other foods but choose not to. Their bodies have adapted to only eating bamboo, thus making them lazy, incompetent, and furthermore, STUPID! They're so lazy they can't even get off their butts to save their species from extinction and procreate! Why would I like pandas when they're the cause of their own demise?!"

It's not like you learn that every day—she _is_ smart. I like it. I like it a lot.

"What animal do you like?" I prompt at her still dissatisfied face. "Flamingos? Elephants? Tigers?"

"Ooooh, get her a penguin!" Sierra says in her hyper voice. "They are soooo cute!"

Courtney sits the bag on the floor and crosses her arms. "We're wasting time! Let's get back to the game already!"

Cody pats my shoulder. "I thought the poem and panda was good. You'll win her over someday."

"I feel her pain, though. If someone gave me a pineapple clay mask instead of cucumber seaweed, I'd act the same way!" So poems are out, no thanks to Harold who helped me write it— he should stick to beat boxing. And pandas are a no-go. It'd make a good present for someone…I should give it to Beth so karma won't hit me again.

All of a sudden I'm really thirsty. "I'll be right back, I'm getting some cider," I call out, leaving the group.

"Fine, but we are _not_ starting over again for you to catch up!" Courtney grabs her ball and the rest follow, Sierra running ahead while Cody and Trent shrug.

Katie and Sadie are at the drinks table in the back of the room, serving Gwen. There are 2 punch bowls, one labeled 'spiked' and the other 'plain'.

"I'll have plain," Gwen says. Katie pours her drink and hands it to her.

"Come again soon!" Sadie pipes in.

Gwen rolls her eyes and turns around, bumping into me.

"Sorry," she says, looking up at me and then her face relaxes.

"It's fine," I brush off.

"I thought you were someone else for a second—at least you don't freak out when I apologize," she says drily.

"Come again?"

"Nothing. Liking the party so far?"

"Yeah, the music's pumpin'!" I start dancing to the current song blasting in the room, Ne-Yo's "Let Me Love You", and Gwen just gives a half-hearted laugh, shaking her head.

"See ya later then." She waves and walks back to her group, where Geoff is definitely drunk. He's yelling, "WOOO! WOOOO! WOOOOOO!" and swinging Bridgette around and around while she's grimacing along with Leshawna. Duncan's pointing and laughing at them and tries to do it with Gwen, who pushes him away. At least Duncan's not doing it with Gwen, or Courtney might get upset—or slap him again, that was funny too!

I come up to Katie and Sadie who're breathing extra heavy at the table. "So, ladies," I say in my best seductive tone, "can I have plain cider too?" They do that annoying 'EEEEEE' thing. I swear they're both dolphins on the inside.

Katie's practically drooling. "Suuuuure." She never takes her eyes off me as she dips the cup in the bowl. Sadie, who's equally drooling, nudges her.

"You're doing it wrong!" she whispers. "You're supposed to use the ladle."

It's nice to know my powers still work on them, but they can't even serve me right! I grab the ladle and pour my own drink. "Thanks, but I got this is," I say flatly, and walk back to my group as they continue to form a puddle of spit.

If only I had the same effect on Courtney! It's gonna take some time, but I can wait.

**Trent's P.O.V.**

We finally manage to get to hole #3, but I know Courtney's still angry about starting over. And I am too but I'm trying not to show it. #9 was _my_ hole! I can't be too mad, though; I'm in 2nd this time. But if I get in first place I'm never gonna hear the end of it—that's Courtney for ya.

Cody now putts and automatically gets a hole in one. "Woohoo! Who's the man, who's the man?!"

"You are, Cody-wody!" Sierra cheers and hugs him in a bear hug. I high five Cody's free hand that's not tangled in the hug.

"Nice job, man! Wish I could have some of your luck!"

Justin drinks some of his cider. "Just do that freaky 9 counting thing—that should work."

"I'm saving it for #9 again—I'll be twice as lucky there!" I answer confidently.

"When did you get so obsessed with 9?" Justin downs the rest of his cider and drops the red cup on the floor, burping.

"Ewww." Courtney stops lining up her shot and wrinkles her nose, glancing at the floor. "You're seriously littering? There's a trashcan near the moon bounce."

"That's what everyone does at parties," Justin shrugs as Courtney gives him a dirty look and resumes her putting. "No one's clean. So," he looks at me, "the 9 thing. What's the deal?"

"_Obviously_ you didn't watch the Aftermath," Sierra says darkly. "He—"

"I can say it," I cut her off, annoyed. It's _my_ life story. "My grandfather—"

"Save the sob story for someone who cares," Justin rudely interrupts, hiccupping.

What the heck? "But _you_ asked _me_!"

"Well, pop, lock, and zip it, cuz I don't wanna hear it…haha, that rhymed, hahaha…" Not really. He continues to laugh but it's a little out of control.

Cody looks scared. "Uh, you ok, Justin?"

"Yeah, I'm great!" he shouts, and then wraps his arm around Courtney's waist. "Heyyyy beautiful! Why don't we—"

Courtney jabs the top of her club at full force to his kiwis, yelling, "YOU PEVERT! I'LL SUE YOU FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT!" Justin grabs his crotch and says in a different octave, "Mommy," and stumbles in a dizzy circle away from her while Courtney looks smugly satisfied.

"You think he's drunk?" I question, now looking at Justin who's being held back by Cody cuz he's lunging for Courtney now, who has her club up like a baseball bat. He _really_ doesn't wanna have kids.

Sierra magically whips out a journal and pen that's plastered with Cody stickers and starts writing super fast. "This is the best moment EVER! Geoff's parties are legendary but things are already heating up! I can't believe Justin's drunk, EEEEEK! His fan base is totally gonna freak!"

"A—little—HELP?!" Cody pleads, as Justin tries to kick Cody off of him. "Ugh, his breath reeks of alcohol!"

"No no no no no," Justin argues, goofily laughing, and stops resisting Cody before I help. "I drank plain….pl….play-doh….what'd I drink?!"

"He is _so_ wasted!" Courtney looks so put off right now and eyes Justin like he's lower then dirt or something. "Let's just leave him and continue our game! You're next, Sierra."

"Almost…done…writing," Sierra replies, writing like she's in the Writing Olympics. I thought Justin wouldn't drink cuz he's watching his figure. Too much alcohol can go to the face. Ruin his…perfect…model….face…hmmm…

"Hey Sierraaaaaa!" Justin calls—or, slurs. "Teach me how you live with your deformities! How does it feel covering your hideous bald head with a cap?"

Why'd he say that?! Sierra's eyes flash as she snaps her Cody pen in half and drops her book. She marches up to Justin and clutches his shirt collar, getting very close to his face, but he's so gone he's still cracking up. "You owe me a Cody pen! And I don't have any 'deformities', Cody likes me the way I am! Isn't that right Cody?! RIGHT?!"

"I do," Cody replies meekly. And then a weird thing happens—Justin starts sobbing—like, hardcore heaving.

"I'm sorry Sierra," he sniffles, but she's not moved. "You're ugly, I'm ugly, and I thought ugly people should stick together! Courtney doesn't even notice me, and only unattractive people like Katie, Sadie, and Beth like my pretty face, but what's it matter when my-my-my powers are gone for good? Tell me how to get them back! From one ugly to another!"

"Justin, you—" but a random black golf ball flies outta nowhere and hits Cody square in the face, knocking him out cold on the floor. He's got a black eye forming that quickly?

"Cody!" In a flash Sierra's giving him CPR.

"And now Cody's died from my ugliness! It's contagious!" Justin falls on the floor, still sobbing.

I scan the area and see Duncan laughing at Cody—and Gwen too? —while the rest of her group wince at us. That's rude and not like Gwen at all…but then what do I know about Gwen? She thought I stole her book and I didn't…

Sierra stops CPR'ing and locks her eyes with Duncan and Gwen—really, Gwen. "Why are they laughing?!"

"I think _they're _the ones who hit Cody," Courtney says deviously.

Sierra gasps and stands up, grabbing her club. "I should've known! Gwen's going DOWN!"

"I'll back you up!" Courtney gets her club and they march to the windmill station with me following behind.

"You guys are jumping to conclusions!" I shout, looking at Gwen who's still laughing and Duncan who's howling on the floor. "We don't know it was them! And you don't have your bats!"

"These golf clubs are even better!" Courtney exclaims and Sierra nods in agreement. Crap, I thought for sure they'd stop when I said that.

Sierra's seething at Gwen as we approach the tense group. "Did you hit Cody in the face?!"

Duncan's having the time of his life rolling on the floor. "She did! It was AWESOME! I didn't think she had the guts. HAHAHAHAHA!"

"She didn't do it on purpose," Bridgette intervenes, biting her lip.

"But she's still laughing!" Sierra shouts. "She's not even sorry! Apologize!"

"It was so funny—" laughs Gwen, but Sierra tries to clobber her with her club.

"NO!" I anxiously yell, but Leshawna runs in front of Gwen and grabs the end of Sierra's club, in which they tug of war.

"You better back up!" Leshawna growls as Sierra cries, "SHE HIT CODY!"

Courtney then tries to hit Gwen with her club, belting out, "TAKE THIS YOU GOTH WITCH!" but Duncan also engages in a tug of war with her club too.

This party's getting out of control! And Geoff's definitely drunk! He's throwing his cowboy hat around like it's a Frisbee and trying to catch it himself, but weirdly, everyone else is doing their own thing and not paying attention to us.

I know Gwen probably doesn't wanna talk to me, and I don't wanna talk to her after the way she treated me, but now's my chance to clear up what happened earlier today.

"Gwen!" I shout over the loud music, grabbing her shoulders. She surprisingly doesn't move away but points at Cody. "He is so out of it! Did you see his face when I hit him?"

"Yeah his face is a real crack up, now listen!" She's still chuckling, though. "I didn't steal your book! I don't know who took it but it wasn't me! I found it on the floor and picked it up. You just caught me at a bad time."

She speaks really slowly and slaps my hands. "Get away from me…we're…we're not friends!"

"That's what I tried to tell you today—and yesterday! I changed my mind, I wanna be friends! I made the mistake in telling you I didn't but—" Gwen abruptly kicks my foot, causing me to let go of her, and she falls on her butt.

"Why the heck—" I try to pick her up but then a whiff of alcohol hits my nose.

Aw crap. How did I not know she was drunk?!

Her little chuckling turns into outrageous laughter as she's rolling on the floor. Bridgette and DJ join me on the floor, apprehensive.

"Is she gonna be ok?" DJ says in a high voice.

"Yeah, but she's drunk," I answer. His and Bridgette's mouths drop open.

Bridgette's puzzled. "But she doesn't drink. When she said she was getting cider everyone knew what she meant. Geoff on the other hand…"

It's true Gwen doesn't drink—at least, she probably didn't before she met Duncan. That idiot!

"DJ, DJ," Gwen says out of breath. "DJ, DJ…JD…hahahaha, JD, like _Scrubs_! Are you him?"

"No, Gwen, I'm DJ!" he answers, frantic to the extreme.

"But JD, you have to—" she hiccups and still laughs, "go out with Eva!"

"Why?! She's scary!"

"But Duncan said—"

Duncan comes outta nowhere and covers Gwen's mouth with his hand and nervously smiles. "Ha, drunk people and their made-up shit."

"How'd you lose Courtney?" Bridgette asks, looking around.

"While we were tug-of-warring I let go and her club swung back and hit Eva's face! I'd say she's got a lot of running to do."

I look behind me and see Eva charging like a bull at a panicked Courtney through the golf courses. I hope Courtney can outrun her.

Bridgette stands up and grabs DJ's hands. "C'mon, we gotta help Gwen calm down! Let's find some water and bread." DJ looks back at me and Gwen and bites his free hand.

Now it's just me and Duncan. Sierra and Leshawna are still fighting but Leshawna has her own club now.

I put my attention back on Duncan and frown. "You didn't tell Gwen I wanted to be friends again, did you? She totally thought I was that jealous to steal her sketchbook!"

Duncan releases his hands from Gwen's laughing mouth, who's calmed down and looks sleepy. He crosses his arms and frowns back. "As far as I know, you two are over, capiche? I don't have to tell her _anything _you say. If she doesn't wanna listen, that's your problem, brah."

Man he's a total jerk! And now he's making sure me and Gwen aren't friends. "You're a real asshole, you know that right?"

I wish I could punch that stupid smirk off his face, but if I do that Gwen will really hate me. "And the snippy side comes out again. I've been called worse." He lifts Gwen from the ground, who's half-asleep, and carries her in his arms, her head resting on his chest. "I'm taking her back to her room."

I grab Gwen's arm but she swats at my hand. "I figured out she was drunk, I should do it!"

"It's not like I was napping the whole time, I had to fight off Courtney!" He tries to walk away but I'm still holding on to her. "Get off!"

"I wanna tell her the truth when she wakes up!"

"Not happenin', man! Last time I checked, _I'm_ her boyfriend, so freakin' grow a pair and get over it!"

Man, that hit me _bad_. Like an airplane, grand piano, and freight train all crashed into me at once bad.

Suddenly, a sharp pain attacks my right leg. "AAAH!" I clutch it with both hands and see a dart there. What the heck?!

"Better get that checked out," Duncan snickers, walking away with Gwen out the room.

Darn it, I missed my chance with Gwen! But who threw that—

Another dart whizzes past my ear and I limp to hide in the moon bounce. Someone has tranquilizers?! I look behind me and see Katie and Sadie chasing after me with tranquilizer guns, cackling. Tranquilizer guns?! "SOMEBODY HELP MEEEEEEE!"

Luckily enough, Justin, who's still drunk but not as bad as he was before, jumps in front of them, and they stop, mesmerized.

"Katie! Sadie! Am I fugly?!"

I don't stick around to hear their answer before I jump into the entrance of the moon bounce. Whoo, safe for now. In the moon bounce with me are Owen, Tyler, Noah, and Harold.

"Guys!" I wheeze, going up and down the squishy floor as they're bouncing. "Sadie and Katie—are chasing me—with tranquilizer guns! You—gotta save me!"

How did they—get guns?!" Harold asks.

"I don't know! Maybe—Geoff brought them—for the party?"

"I always—loved his sense of humor!" Owen heartily laughs. "If Izzy was here—she'd go nuts!"

"She—already—IS!" Noah yells.

Sadie and Katie poke their heads into the moon bounce. Crap. "Oh Treeeeeeeeeent!" they sing-song and start climbing in.

"AAAHH! SAVE ME!" My leg's slowing me down from running away. I try to hit it but it's still numb.

"Don't worry dude, I got you covered!" Tyler screams, and jumps on top of Katie while Owen smothers Sadie.

I exit out the flap in the back of the moon bounce and stand up to see I'm near the sound system with Alejandro and Heather. Heather has this evil smile on her face. "Having fun?"

"If getting chased by Katie and Sadie is fun, then sure." I limp myself away from Heather who's laughing like my pain's the funniest thing in the world.

Sadie and Katie are gonna get out the moon bounce sometime soon, so where to hide…. the ice cream truck! I get there as fast as I can and see Beth and Lindsay eating ice cream inside the truck too. I hastily pull the door open, slam it, and lay on the floor.

"Trent!" Lindsay exclaims. "What are you doing on the floor?"

"If you see Sadie and Katie tell them I'm not here—please? _Please_?"

"Ok," Beth agrees. "I saw them with tranquilizers. I didn't know they could be so scary."

Just then, I hear the duo's voice outside the truck.

"Hey, you have 2 seen Trent?" Katie asks. "We wanna compare his butt with Justin's!" _That's_ what they've been trying to do?! I thought they wanted to drug me and do all sorts of stalker-ish things.

"He went, uh…back to his room," Beth fibs. "He got bored playing mini-golf."

"EEEEEE! Let's find him!" Sadie shrills. I don't hear them anymore so I think the coast is clear. I lift my head to check—yep, they're gone. "I owe you guy's big time."

"Oh my gosh, you're gonna take us to see Big Time Rush?" Lindsay squeals and hugs me tight. "Aw, you're the best, Trent!" Uh….what?

The door opens up and Owen, Tyler, Harold , and Noah come inside, getting their ice cream. "Those girls couldn't handle our sick wrestling moves," gloats Tyler. "They gave up quicker than I thought!"

"More like, they saw Trent wasn't in the moon bounce anymore and bolted," dead-pans Noah.

"Thanks guys," I say, and avoid the phrase 'big time'. "This night's been crazy!" I scoop myself some mint chocolate chip ice cream and we all sit on the floor.

"Well I declare this night officially awesome!" Harold grins. "Every party needs ice cream!"

Everyone "mmms" in agreement as we can continue to eat. Then—

"MMMMFF! MMMMMMMMFFFF!"

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Owen jumps up and well all hold on to each other, shaking in fear.

"It's in that brown bag over there!" wails Tyler. A long, brown bag all the way at the end of the truck starts rolling back and forth.

"I don't wanna find out what that is!" I tremble. "Let's go!"

"MMMMMMMFFFFF!" The bag starts thrashing around and shakes the truck as we all scream.

"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIIIIEEEEE!" Owen yells, sobbing like a baby.

Just then, a square patch of the truck's floor opens up and out pops—

"IZZYYYYYY!" Owen throws us all aside and picks her up, crushing her into a hug but she just giggles.

"Hey Big O! Do you know there's a trap door under this truck, which leads into this long, windy tunnel and then into my room? Wanna see?!"

"I told you she was fine," Noah says, smiling.

"Guuuuyyyysss, it's moving again!" Beth points and then we all scream except Izzy as the bag gives another "MMMMMMMMMMFFF!"

"Oh, that thing? The tranquilizers must've wore off," Izzy states. "I'll show you what it is outside. I brought it back from the island."

The island? Everyone scrambles out the truck as Izzy comes out with the bag over her shoulder, and then carelessly drops it.

"Why were you on the island?" Owen asks. "I was looking everywhere for you!"

Izzy has a mischievous smile on her face. "I was wrestling alligators!" She flops on the ground and pretends she's wrestling, but then jolts from being shocked.

"You're lying!" Harold accuses. "In the TDA Aftermath you said you had a lie deterrent micro-chip that shocks you when you lie."

"I am, but wouldn't wrestling alligators be so much fun?!" She stops fake wrestling and stands up, sitting the twitching bag upright. "Look what I brought!" She uncovers the top of the bag.

"You found Bethany?!" Lindsay says, astonished. Blaineley's mouth is duct-taped, which would explain the noise, but I guess her hands and feet are tied up because she can't stand up. We must've been making a big commotion about Blaineley because everyone that's left in the room comes around to see what's up. The only people who don't appear are Justin, who's passed out on his back near a lake, and Bridgette, DJ, Duncan, Gwen, Sadie and Katie.

Geoff almost drops his cookie dough ice cream. "Blaineley? How'd you find her?!"

"She was on the island!" Izzy boasts.

"Why were _you_ there?" Heather asks suspiciously.

"MMMMMFFF! MMMMMMMMFFF!" Blaineley still flails around, boring her eyes at us. She's probably killing us all in her head.

"Look dudes, it doesn't matter why Izzy was there, we can finally get _Mildred_ to confess on tape!" Geoff says, quickly ripping the tape from her mouth as we all cover our ears from her eardrum deafening scream.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU PUNKS!" she roars, and I don't doubt she will. "Now I know how Chef feels—I don't get paid enough for abuse! Untie me this instant!"

"Put a sock in it," Geoff scoffs, eating the last of his ice cream. "Where's Duncan? We need his razor!" I'd tell him, but…nah.

Heather, extremely cross, walks over to Blaineley. "We know you're rigging this to make the bottom 13 win." Blaineley's face pales. "No one's robbing me of a million dollars!"

Blaineley puts her nose in the air. "I never said that!"

Heather points to Justin's sleeping form. "_He_ overheard you talking to Chris about it! If you don't fess up, you're gonna regret it—I know personally."

Blaineley doesn't look threatened. "Pfft, puh-lease. You have no proof! I'll do what I want!"

Geoff starts wickedly chuckling and now Blaineley looks unnerved. "I wouldn't say that if I were you. We're gonna cut off all your hair if you don't tell us."

"And apparently you need the delinquent for that reason," Blaineley mocks. "I might be tied up, but you're not gonna get me to say it."

It's looking bad—they got nothing to threaten her with. Harold, Eva, and, Leshawna look like they won this battle. Maybe I should tell them that Duncan's in Gwen's room. I'm not in the bottom 13 and neither is Duncan…if this holds out, both of us won't be in Season 5. And maybe that's what I want to happen, because I hate him!

A new, tired voice joins the conversation. "You're forgetting…I have…lasers…"

Everybody turns to Alejandro.

"You can talk? But I thought you were a robot!" Lindsay says with confusion.

"Izzy…put me…on robot…mode…this is only…a suit…_puta_…" His happy/apathetic meter is all the way down to the blue apathetic side. But I really think he's annoyed. That's not a good meter anyway.

"Alright!" Geoff claps his hands, grinning deviously at Blaineley who gulps. "Al here's gonna burn off your hair with lasers if you don't fess up!" Alejandro starts making noises and Blaineley looks like a ghost.

"NO! NO NO NO NO NOOOO! I just got these extensions put in last week!"

"Someone get Justin's—"

"Looking for this?" Eva cuts Geoff off, lifting up Justin's camera from her pocket, and everyone looks like they were told they only have one day to live.

"NOOOOO!" Heather screams at the top of her lungs as Eva throws it into the lake besides her. She falls to her knees, clawing the felt. "That was the only camera we had with a video tape! And all the ones in the shops are disposable Kodaks!"

Leshawna high fives Eva. "You go, girl!"

Courtney joins Heather's frustration and uses her golf club to hit the ground. "UGH! This abomination of a show sucks! Got that, Chris?! I hope you can hear me!"

The color returns to Blaineley's face as she belts out a laugh. "You losers really thought you could win! And FYI, Courtney, this special and Revenge of the Island aren't live—they're both being heavily edited for once. You brats need to be more entertaining if you want views and you're doing a _terrific_ job so far. The great thing about editing is we can cut this so it doesn't look like I'm being mugged by some thugs—"

Geoff silences her mouth with duct-tape and she "MMMMFFF's" again. "Guys, I think she won," he says, bummed. "We got nothing else."

"Can we still burn her hair?" Noah snickers.

Geoff tiredly shrugs. "If Al wants to. Sorry guys, we tried."

"Aww, don't be so hard on yourselves," Leshawna teases.

"Nothing personal, Geoff," Harold says. "I just wanna win." Geoff just pouts, "Mhmm."

Leshawna grabs Harold's hand, who smiles like he's the luckiest guy in the world. "If anyone wants to join us, we'll be celebrating in the club on the 2nd floor! Let's go baby cakes!" Everyone remains stunned as her, Harold, and Eva leave. Tyler looks conflicted whether to stay or go.

Beth sheepishly smiles. "Maybe getting a pass to Season 5 isn't so bad. And you're in it too, Geoff!"

"But what about Bridge?" he whimpers.

"Oh…she could…cheer you from the sidelines?"

They continue talking and my mind wanders to Gwen. She'll be in Season 5 too…without me…or Duncan…at least she's not with Duncan!

Izzy rips the duct-tape from Blaineley's mouth and unties her hands and feet. "I thought we were gonna leave her like that?" Geoff asks with a sadistic and hopeful tone.

Blaineley stands up, wiping the dirt off her dress and pierces us with her icy eyes. "You brats are lucky you did nothing to my hair, or I would've screwed you all over!" She leaves the room briskly and now everyone's in a funk, except me; Duncan lost!

I turn to Izzy who's doing back flips and cartwheels. "Why'd you let her go?"

She stops moving around and stares into my eyes. She's got a secret and it shows. "Because…Izzy's got an idea!"

* * *

**A/N: I'm baaaack! Do you know how long I missed writing this story?! I've been thinking about it the whole time I was in college. I'd even get epiphanies about what would happen later and jot notes down in my laptop haha. Thanks for patiently waiting since the summer :D**

**So there's a couple of things I'd like to say...first, I'm not gonna update til this summer. I don't know when, maybe June or July, but it will be over the summer. I have this whole story planned out and it sucks I can't update quicker, but life keeps getting in the way :P College, then I need a job, all of that stuff. I wish I wrote this story 2 years ago or something so I'd have more time :/**

**Second...the dumb haiku didn't space out like I wanted it to. I tried and tried but I guess I can't separate it into 4 stanzas on here. Sorry!**

**Third...I know the 5th season is supposed to come out sometime this year and apparently some characters have already been announced of who's coming back?! I heard Duncan and Mike were? Even if that's the case, whoever's in the 5th season isn't effecting the outcome of this story. I've already decided who's winning and who's not, so that's that.**

**Since I won't be updating for a while, I think I might write random one-shots. I actually thought of a one shot today and it's a parody, but that's all I'm gonna say. I thought it would be a funny idea :D So stay tuned for that whenever I write it!**

**Also, I think of random songs when writing this that make me think of the characters. "A Little Too Not Over You" by David Archuleta reminds me of Gwen and Trent, really from Trent's POV. The lyrics pretty much describe his situation and it was making me laugh b/c the words are so pathetic and I was picturing Trent singing it...look it up if you want. Or not. Just thought I'd share :D**

**I hope everyone had a good holiday/break and great New Year's too! Thanks for sticking with me and see you all in the summer! :D**


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